Domestic abuse victim: “I want to speak as a warning to others”

Carys Williams, who lives in Wales met Garry Milton, 36, of Hereford Way, Aylesbury online.

The pair were both interested in psychology, Carys has achieved a degree in the subject, and she found Milton charming and engaging.

They became a couple, travelling between each other’s homes to meet. But soon into the relationship Carys says that she started to notice worrying signs.

She said: “If he was ever embarrassed in a social situation he would get quite agressive, I don’t know if he knew he acted that way but he wanted to feel bigger than everyone else.”

“I was in a relationship with Garry for just over a year prior to the attack. He had been emotionally abusive and manipulative at times throughout the relationship and it escalated to him becoming physically violent gradually.”

Then during a visit to a friend’s home in Amersham, in May, Milton attacked Cerys as she tried to sleep on a sofa.

The attack left the mother-of-one with severe brusing, and in need of reconstructive dental surgery.

She said: “He’d actually asked me to move in with him the night before the attack, so I think in many ways I had a lucky escape. But after the attack I just shut down, I called in sick from work and stayed in bed for about three weeks. I didn’t tell anyone what had happened to me.

“The whole thing made me feel marooned, and I think that’s what he wanted, there was a world of difference between the person he is and the person he made himself out to be.”

Brave Carys contacted police, and last month Milton was sentenced for actual bodily harm.

Carys, who gave evidence at the trial, says that while she is happy with the verdict, she feels the sentence was too light.

She said: “I am very concerned that the sentence is unduly lenient and does not in any way reflect the viciousness of the crime. I want to speak out as a warning to others, and inspire women to seek help if they are in a similar situation.”