A man whose girlfriend blamed him for her death in her suicide note has been jailed in the wake of her passing.

Kiena Dawes, 23, took her own life on July 22, 2022, shortly after writing a note on her phone and leaving it with a friend.

In the note, the hairdresser named her boyfriend, 30-year-old Ryan Wellings, as the reason for her mental health taking a downturn.

She wrote: “He ruined every bit of strength I had left. I had dreams. I had a future at one point. That was taken away from me,” as cited by Sky News.

Wellings was found guilty of controlling and coercive behavior, and assault. and was jailed for six-and-a-half years.

The jury at Preston Crown Court found him not guilty of manslaughter in relation to Dawes’s death on Monday.

Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, cited the suicide note at Wellings’s trial, in which Dawes said Wellings had “killed [her]”.

Wellings denied the allegations made against him, telling the court: “I’m not a monster.”

While the jury cleared Wellings of manslaughter, her was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison on Thursday, with Mr. Greaney inviting the court to sentence the defendant “on the basis that [the offending of which he was convicted] formed the background to and set the scene for her death”.

He told the jury that the abuse Dawes faced was “both regular and routine across the relationship”, and the court heard that on one occasion Wellings had “held a drill to Kiena’s face, switched the drill on and threatened to drill out her teeth”.

Ryan Wellings. Credit: Lancashire Police

Angela Dawes, the late hairdresser’s mother, wrote in a victim impact statement read out on her behalf in court: “It breaks my heart that [Kiena’s] beautiful baby doesn’t have her Mummy here because of that monster.

“I truly hope that no other young lady or child has to go through what he did to my daughter and her baby.”

Dawes’s grandmother, Irene Ball, also revealed that she’d noticed changes in her granddaughter during the course of her relationship with Wellings, including that her smile was “false” despite trying to “reassure [her]” that all was well.

She added: “It was extremely shocking to see my granddaughter hurt and with injuries to her beautiful face.

“I told Kiena that he would really badly hurt her one day and I pleaded with her not to go back to him.”

The victim’s brother, Kynan Dawes, added: “I introduced Kiena to this monster and I will regret that for the rest of my life.”

He added that he felt that “justice [had] been served” as “the world now knows what a monster [Wellings] is”.

Mr. Dawes also hoped that those who’d been following his sister’s tragic case online would be inspired to seek help if ever they found themselves in the same situation, explaining: “I want people to see that domestic violence is not OK and men should respect their partners.”

He urged others experiencing domestic abuse to “go to the police,” adding: “If you don’t feel like you can do this, speak to family or friends.”

Judge Robert Altham described Dawes as “a popular, vivacious, friendly, and kind young woman”, adding during sentencing: “She pleaded with you to stop hitting her but you just carried on. You tried to persuade her that it was her fault for upsetting you.”

The judge added Wellings was aware of Dawes’s history of mental health issues, and that he “called her names connected with her illness” and “repeatedly told her that she may as well kill herself”.

He added that he would pass his sentence based on the jury’s conclusion that the defendant had “no criminal responsibility” for Dawes’s death.

John Jones KC, mitigating, told the court that Dawes and Wellings had an “inconsistent” relationship spanning two and a half years, explaining: “It would be wrong to say that that coercive relationship was in existence throughout.”

Wellings’s sentences for controlling or coercive behavior in an intimate relationship and for assault occasioning actually bodily harm will run consecutively.

A further count of assault on the defendant’s former friend Scott Fletcher, to which Wellings had previously pleaded guilty, was included as part of the sentence, of which he will serve half in prison before being released on license.