EXCLUSIVE Woman who was beaten with hammers and forced to eat photos of dead relatives by ‘worst ever domestic abuser’ says she is living in fear as her ex boyfriend is released from prison after 10 years behind bars
- Charlotte Rooks fears Craig Thomas will track her down again now he’s free
A woman who was beaten with hammers and forced to eat photos of dead relatives by her ex-boyfriend is living in fear that he will track her down having been released from prison after ten years.
Craig Thomas’s relentless campaign of terror against Charlotte Rooks was described as the ‘worst domestic abuse’ a judge had ever seen.
He was given ten-year prison sentence for beating her with hammers, making her sleep naked standing up and even forcing her to eat photographs of dead loved ones as a bizarre punishment.
Thomas was jailed in 2013 and then initially released on probation in 2019 after serving half his sentence – but quickly recalled to prison for breaching the terms of his release.
But now he’s served the full ten years, his release has become automatic – and Ms Rooks was advised this week that he is free, but has not been told where he’s staying, fearing that he could try to track her down again.
Craig Thomas’s relentless campaign of abuse was described as the ‘worst domestic abuse’ a judge had ever seen
Ms Rooks was beaten with hammers, made to sleep naked standing up and even forced to eat photographs of dead loved ones as a bizarre punishment
She told MailOnline: ‘I am terrified that he will try to find me and finish what he started.
‘When Thomas came out the last time, he was on licence and banned from Cardiff as part of those conditions. Now he has served the full ten years, he has no such restrictions.
‘Instead, I am a prisoner, and he is freer than I could ever imagine. I am more afraid now than when he took me ten years ago. He could move around the corner from me.’
‘Craig Thomas nearly killed me at the time. My injuries are life-changing. I have a bulging blood vessel in my brain. Even now, that could rupture and kill me.
‘He said “If you survive this, every time you look in the mirror, you will be reminded of what I did to you”, and it is true Thomas has branded my face.
‘It has taken me ten years to get to the point I am at now, I am working in a role where I am using my lived experience to help others, and I hope to create a charity looking after the pets of women fleeing domestic violence.
‘Despite everything I have said, I am placing my faith in the police and the public to protect me from Thomas, and I am grateful for my recent contact with the officers currently serving with South Wales Police.’
An earlier investigation into the police’s handling of Thomas’s abuse found widespread failings.
The damning 2018 report from the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) revealed how police:
- Visited the flat where Ms Rooks was trapped several times after tip-offs from members of the public.
- Failed to grasp the full horror of the victim’s enduring ordeal.
- Failed to arrest her tormentor until she finally managed to escape through her own daring.
- Failed to properly conduct their own internal investigations into mistakes made.
Following its publication, South Wales Police issued a ‘sincere apology’ and admitted that Ms Rooks was let down by them.
One one occasion after being called to the property officers concluded the couple had been having loud sex. In fact Thomas had been brutally beating Ms Rooks.
Ms Rooks (pictured, her injuries) was advised this week that he is free, but has not been told where he’s staying, fearing that he could try to track her down again
The police officers did not contact the person who made the tip-off, and the report concluded that ‘the rationale that they had disturbed a couple ‘having sex’ does not explain the presence of the bruising seen days before by the witness. This was seemingly overlooked by both officers’.
The officers did not attempt to speak to Ms Rooks in a separate room to her alleged attacker, despite it being their policy to do so.
She even tried to tip the officers off by saying it was her baby that had been heard. They did not pick up on the hint that she didn’t have a baby.
On another occasion a member of the public reported seeing Thomas attacking Miss Rooks through the window of his flat on Trenchard Drive in Llanishen, Cardiff.
Four officers went to the flat and Thomas told the them the call was a fake, claiming that ‘people had a vendetta against him over drugs and suggested that this was why the police had been called’.
The call was in fact genuine. Thomas had been repeatedly beating a pregnant Miss Rooks, hitting her stomach with the metal extension from his vacuum.
Despite the fact officers identified reddening on her cheek that ‘looked fresh’ and injuries to her eye it was recorded that there was no sign of a disturbance.
When the police left on that day Thomas took out his frustrations on Miss Rooks, the report revealed.
‘When they left I knew that I was f***ed,’ said Miss Rooks. ‘I thought that I was going to die. That night I remember saying to him to just kill me.
‘He said: ‘I will either give you bleach or you can put a bag over your head.’
‘I remember really weighing up these options because I just wanted to die.
‘That night he lifted up the sofa and made me lie down and put my arms above my head so that my hands were trapped under the sofa and would then repeatedly jump on my stomach.
‘Obviously your body reaction is to curl up but my hands were trapped under the sofa. If I couldn’t control my reflexes he would just stamp on my head – that went on all night.
‘I was being tortured. That is exactly what CID said. [The person interviewing me] had to take a break himself during the interview.’
Thomas was eventually arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison at Cardiff Crown Court.
The Ministry of Justice has been contacted for comment.
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