Robert Easom violently assaulted Trudi Burgess, from Chorley, when she threatened to leave him
A “violent and controlling bully” who broke his partner’s neck, leaving her paralysed and her life “destroyed”, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Robert Easom, a landscape gardener, violently assaulted Trudi Burgess, a schoolteacher and former singer, when she threatened to leave him after enduring eight years of coercive, controlling behaviour.
A court heard that Easom, 57, pinned Burgess down in a rage and pushed her head into her body until her neck snapped. He denied a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent but was found guilty after 27 minutes of deliberation by a jury at Preston crown court in November.
He had admitted causing the injury but denied intending to cause her serious harm. Burgess suffered a complete spinal cord injury and is now tetraplegic. She will never walk again, requires continuous care, is in constant pain, cannot cough without help, has no use of her hands and no control over her bladder and bowel functions.
