A thug to subjected his former fiancée to years of horrific abuse before she took her own life is set to learn his fate as he’s sentenced today.
Ryan Wellings was found guilty of assault and controlling and coercive behaviour after a six-week trial at Preston Crown Court during which the jury heard heartbreaking details of the abuse Kiena Dawes, 23, endured over a two-year period. Wellings, 30, was found not guilty of Kiena’s manslaughter after she took her own life having left her eight-month-old baby girl and a suicide note penned on her phone at a friend’s home.
The trial heard how Wellings subjected Kiena to a prolonged campaign of abuse before she was found dead on a railway track near Garstang, Lancashire, in July 2022. In the tragic final note left by hairdresser Kiena, rom Fleetwood, she wrote that she had been “murdered” by Wellings.
Wellings, a landscape gardender from Bispham, Lancashire, claimed his relationship with Kiena was “loving” and he didn’t accept his conduct caused her death, saying her underlying mental health issues may have caused her to take her own life. The court heard that Wellings’ abuse was a “significant factor” in Kiena’s decision to end her life, with the last attack just 11 days before her death.
In her heartbreaking suicide note, Kiena wrote: “The end. I fought hard, I fought long. went through pain no one could imagine. No one will know what I went through. I was murdered. Slowly. They tortured me, till there was nothing left. I lost my fight but I didn’t give up my battle. I fought till the end. Ryan Wellings killed me.”
Wellings is due to be sentenced at Preston Crown Court for assault and coercive and controlling behaviour to Kiena Dawes today.
Follow our live blog below for all the latest updates.
For mental health support, contact the Samaritans on 116 123, email them at jo@samaritans.org or visit samaritans.org to find your nearest branch.
For confidential support, call the 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Freephone Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or visit womensaid.co.uk. If you or your family have lost a friend or family member through fatal domestic abuse, AAFDA (Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse) can offer specialist and expert support and advocacy. For more info visit** www.aafda.org.uk**.
11:19Fiona Leishman
Kiena Dawes was ‘sweetest, kindest and gentlest person’
Following Wellings’ conviction, Kiena’s mother, Angela Dawes, described her daughter as the “sweetest, kindest and gentlest person”. She added: “I truly hope no other young lady or child has to go through what he did to my daughter and her baby and I just wish with all my heart that I could bring her back and say, it’s ok, you’re safe now.”
Fighting back tears outside court, Angela Dawes said it was “almost impossible to put into words” the pain their family was feeling after Wellings was cleared of manslaughter, adding that “justice has not been done in the way we all hope.” She said: “Although a manslaughter conviction has not been achieved, the convictions for assault and coercive control clearly demonstrate the perpetrators of domestic abuse will be held to account and imprisoned for what they have done.”
Paying tribute to her daughter, Angela revealed she had found it “almost impossible to put into words the impact of losing Kiena has been for her family, her beautiful baby girl and all her friends”. She said: “Kiena was glam, she was an extremely beautiful girl, she was totally the sweetest, kindest and gentlest girl I have ever known.”
Kiena Dawes took her own life after a campaign of abuse from her partner (Image:Lancs Live/MEN Media)11:07Fiona Leishman
Ryan Wellings to be sentenced at Preston Crown Court
30-year-old Ryan Wellings is to be sentenced at Preston Crown Court today after he was found guilty of assault and coercive and controlling behaviour toward Kiena Dawes, 23, over a two-year period. He was found not guilty of manslaughter by the jury on Monday following a six-week trial.
Prosecutors took the highly unusual step of charging Wellings with manslaughter and he was the first defendant to face trial for the unlawful killing of his partner after her suicide following domestic violence. Kiena left a suicide note calling her partner a “monster” who “killed me” with her eight-month old daughter before taking her life at a railway track.