Coggin (pictured) wold only let his girlfriend have a bath if he was sat on the toilet watching
A schoolgirl was prevented from washing her hair and brushing her teeth by a possessive older boyfriend who wouldn’t let her have a bath unless he was sat on the toilet seat watching her.
When Tobias Coggin’s victim tried to challenge his behaviour or end the relationship, he repeatedly threatened to kill himself to keep her under control as he ‘invaded’ every part of her life.
The girl’s mother, who did not know the extent of the abuse until her daughter finally found the courage to leave him, blames Coggin for her failing her GCSE exams, Hull Crown Court heard.
When the then-16 victim said she wanted to go to college, Coggin was so desperate to monitor what she was doing he threatened to enrol himself – even attending an open day. She also put on weight because of the fast food he insisted on.
A judge called his behaviour ‘abhorrent’ and warned the 20-year-old if he ever did it again he would be going straight to prison.
But Judge David Tremberg said he was able to suspend the sentence because Coggin, who was aged between 17 and 18 at the time, was of ‘positive good character’ and pleaded guilty.
Charlotte Baines, prosecuting, said when the pair first met Coggin would pick her up in his car and take her to McDonald’s.
They began a relationship weeks later, and ‘at first things were okay’, but then she began to notice ‘changes’.
He was ‘difficult’ about her talking to male friends, and eventually she had to block them on social media. She also lost contact with female friends and became ‘isolated’.
Coggin would not let her have a bath on her own unless he was ‘sat on the toilet seat watching her’.
If he left the room before she had time to wash her hair, she had to leave too, with Coggin saying: ‘If she had greasy hair, at least nobody at school would fancy her’.
As well as stopping her brushing her teeth, Coggin also prevented the girl wearing clean clothes.
Miss Baines said when she told him this made her ‘feel dirty’, Coggin said ‘he did not care, she was with him and did not need anybody else’.
‘He would talk about their relationship being permanent – they would get married and have children,’ she said.
The girl was 16 at the time and would soon be going to college. Coggin would drop her off at home before making the girl FaceTime him at night until she fell asleep, accusing her of cheating on him if she didn’t.
As well as stopping her brushing her teeth, Coggin also prevented the girl wearing clean clothes, Hull Crown Court (pictured) heard
When she ended the relationship, Coggin ‘sprayed WD40 into his mouth in an attempt to stop her leaving him, but she had the courage to walk away’.
In his police interview, Coggin, of Victoria Dock, produced a prepared statement and blamed the girl for causing ‘arguments’.
He later admitted two offences of coercive and controlling behaviour, and was sentenced to five months in a young offender institution, suspended for two years. The maximum sentence is five years.
Paul Genney, mitigating, said the relationship was ‘obsessive’ and ‘adolescent’, adding that his client is ashamed of how he behaved and is effectively a different person to who he was then.
Judge Tremberg said Coggin’s behaviour was ‘persistent, sustained emotional blackmail’.
He told him: ‘If I were in your shoes, I would regard today’s sentence as being your first and last chance, because if what happened to the complainant forms part of a pattern, it seems inevitable the next step for you will be prison.’
Coggin was made subject to as two-year restraining order, must have up to 30 days of rehabilitation, and attend a relationships course.