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SellUsYourStory.com helps hundreds of people share their stories who want to help those in a similar situation. Brave Laura shared her story about the domestic abuser who haunted her from behind bars.

Laura tells of her obsessed domestic abuser ex who nutted her, split her lip, disfigured her face with a metal grinder, stabbed her in the leg with a biro, and then taunted her from jail with ‘love letters’ saying ‘I’ll never give you up’.


 

When Daniel messaged Laura through Facebook saying, ‘You’re a little darling aren’t you?’ she was immediately smitten. He was nice looking, a charmer, and Laura loved the attention. After a few weeks chatting online the pair decided to meet in the flesh.

They met each other at a neutral train station, bought a few drinks and headed back to Laura’s to get to know each other some more. Alarm bells should have rung for Laura when, after a few drinks, Daniel accused her of sending his brothers Facebook messages. She brushed it off as first-date jitters and they spent a happy weekend together.

A few days later, when she saw him again, he said his brother’s house, where he’d been living, had had the gas and electric cut off. She invited him in, and allowed him to stay.

Laura Duncan, and Daniel Bell in the early days of their relationship, 2014, at South Shields beach
Laura , and Daniel in the early days of their relationship, 2014, at South Shields beach

Slowly but surely, as the bags of clothes and toiletries kept coming, Daniel moved himself in. There was nothing Laura could do about it. She’d go to work of a morning and when she’d come back in the evening, he was still there, frequently exactly where she’d left him, on the couch watching TV with a can.

She didn’t mind too much. When he was sober, he was lovely. She decided to introduce him to her friends. But that night everything changed. Daniel flipped after he accused Laura of messaging his brothers again.

With eyes that seemed black with rage, he grabbed Laura, pushed his face into hers and threatened her. Appalled, Laura’s friends called the police who arrested him and took him across town before letting him go.

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Laura , and Daniel in the early days of their relationship, 2014, at South Shields beach

Laura went to bed, but got up in the night to go to the loo, but she found Daniel curled up on her sofa. He had found his way back, and broken in. She left him to sleep, afraid he was still overcome with rage.

In the morning, he apologised and convinced Laura to forgive him. A few weeks later, they went out for a meal, which Daniel paid for, but with Laura’s money. When they got home, he flipped again. Laura accused him of taking drugs.

She knew, as a drug and alcohol harm reduction specialist, what the signs were, and Daniel was showing them. Out of nowhere, he lunged at Laura, head-butting her in the face. There was blood everywhere, splattered up the wall, on the ceiling.

An image showing the extent of Laura's injuries including a black eye, scratch marks to her neck, a bruised chin, a gash to the head after Bell slammed her head into an overhead cabinet, a (5)
An image showing the extent of Laura’s injuries including a black eye, scratch marks to her neck, a bruised chin, a gash to the head after Bell slammed her head into an overhead cabinet, a

The force of the assault sent Laura’s teeth through her top lip, and even chipped her front tooth. She could put her finger through the hole in her lip.

It was the start of many assaults that Laura would suffer over the next few months. But each time Daniel would convince her to forgive him. She was left feeling emotionally trapped.

Daniel’s paranoia, however, was always present. He was always accusing her of speaking to his brothers behind his back. He even thought she’d hidden a device in a stuffed toy to record him, and sell it to his brothers.

A police injury picture submitted as evidence to the court
A police injury picture of Laura submitted as evidence to the court

Laura kicked him out more times than she can remember, but he always returned, hat in hand, and Laura always took him back. She was scared of what he might do if she really did break it off.

But then Daniel attacked her with a metal grinder, driving it into her face, puncturing her cheek. He fled, as he always did, and Laura went outside to check he wasn’t lurking on the neighbour’s porch, or in the bushes, before calling police.

He was, and he jumped out and assaulted her again, punching her in the face, knocking her to the floor, giving her a concussion.

Daniel was jailed for four months, from April to July 2015 for assault, battery, criminal damage and breach of a restraining order. But while he was inside, he bombarded Laura with love letters, tormenting her with promises he ‘wouldn’t give up on her’.

Laura couldn’t see an end to the drama and his campaign of pestering her, and was left scarred and frightened.

When Daniel was released, he ‘bumped’ into Laura, and she was too frightened to refuse his invitation to dinner. Desperate to get away, she played along with it, constantly looking for a way out.

collect images of Laura's injuries including a black eye, scratch marks to her neck, a bruised chin, a gash to the head after Bell slammed her head into an overhead cabinet, a (3)

Bravely, she told him that after what he’d done to her she’d never look at him as a boyfriend ever again. But in a bitter act of revenge, Daniel subjected Laura to a sickening assault that left her needing hospital treatment.

He blocked her exit, began pushing her back into the living room. He threw Laura’s phone out on the fire escape. He grabbed her hair and slammed her face into cabinets, threw her against walls, and shattered a glass table and stabbed her with a shard.

As Laura was bleeding profusely, Daniel fled the scene, only to be captured later that night, hiding in a wardrobe of the same room. He’d come back to clean up the evidence and been disturbed during the process.

He was arrested and remanded, but still continued to send letters to Laura, speaking of his ‘undying love and affection’.

Laura has been left shaking and terrified. Daniel has tried every way possible to get in touch with her, and with his release imminent, she has been forced to leave town and find somewhere else to live.

Laura wanted to share her story to help those in a similar situation and warn others about serial domestic abuser Daniel.  If you have a similar story, or you’d like to sell any other story to the national press, contact us today.  SellUsYourStory.com is part of the largest independent national press agency in the UK.  Our experienced, sensitive and trained writers will help you tell your story, your way, and get you the highest payment for it.

Simply fill out the Story Valuation form on this page to tell us a little about your story.  We’ll use this info to give you an estimate of how much your story is worth.  There is no obligation and everything you send us is confidential until you tell us otherwise.


 

To find out more about how to sell my story to the press, click here.  If you’d like to see a selection of stories we’ve written to help other survivors of a domestic abuser, read more domestic abuse stories here.

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