Becky Reid has been jailed for life for murdering her girlfriend Lyndsey Vaux
An abusive girlfriend who battered her lesbian lover by regularly punching and stamping on her so much she ‘looked like the elephant man’ has been jailed for life.
Becky Reid, 32, was convicted of murdering Lyndsey Vaux, 30, who died following years of abuse which left her with 90 separate injuries.
Neighbours told how Miss Vaux was seen being dragged by her hair as Reid screamed abuse at her in the streets where they lived in Wigan, Greater Manchester.
In the final months before her death on May 22 last year Miss Vaux appeared downtrodden, malnourished, constantly bruised and going downhill rapidly.
One neighbour told jurors she ‘looked like she was dead already,’ and another said Miss Vaux looked like she had been in a car accident, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Prosecutors said in one incident in the build-up to the killing, victim Lyndsey was kicked in the face by Reid for mistakenly bringing home salad on her burger and chips.
Victim Lyndsey Vaux had been abused and mistreated by Reid for years before her death
In another incident Reid stamped on Lyndsey’s face whilst shouting: ‘Look what you’re making me do, making everyone believe I’m the bully when you are’.
Lyndsey was so hungry due to being apparently starved, local shopkeepers saw her foraging for food in refuse bins.
She was made to beg for money from neighbours and would be seen trudging the streets in bare feet during heavy rain after being ordered to fetch food from a nearby shop by Reid and her mother.
Reid’s mother Gillian, 57, was found guilty of assaulting an ex-partner of her daughter
But despite offers of help and police being alerted by worried friends and locals, Lyndsey would protect her violent girlfriend and falsely claim she had been in accident or been attacked by someone else and no action was taken against Reid.
In the run up to her death Lyndsey had confided in a friend saying: ‘I’ll be honest with you. Becky has battered me a few times it’s been going on for years but it’s got worse these last few months. it was just when Becky got angry but it’s getting worse.
‘Every couple of days I get a crack. I’ve got Becky hitting me and the mum is just stood there letting it happen saying that I was the one in the wrong. Sometimes I get a punch or a couple of kicks, once I got pushed down the stairs.’
She told another: ‘I do get on her nerves and she just snaps.’
Paul Reid QC prosecuting said Lyndsey had been subjected to ‘years of controlling, abusive cruel and violent behaviour’ at the hands of her girlfriend – and was even made to choose between her and staying with her young daughter from a previous relationship.