By FRANKIE ELLIOTT

Published: 10:45 GMT, 10 February 2025 | Updated: 13:11 GMT, 10 February 2025

A judge has said sorry to a domestic abuse victim for not locking up her tormenter when he had the chance.

Ben Grenfell was just 17 when he was convicted of using violence and manipulation to torment his then-girlfriend, eventually driving his car head-on at her and assaulting her stepfather. 

Judge Tim Gittins deferred sentencing the teenager at Newcastle Crown Court in February 2023 after hearing about his mental health difficulties and the support being offered by his family. 

But the ‘extremely dangerous’ Grenfell was attacking and stalking a new girlfriend within months of being offered this chance to change. 

‘I apologise to your second victim because I put her in harm’s way,’ Judge Gittins said on Friday as he sentenced the now-19-year-old for his latest attacks.

Grenfell, from Burnopfield, County Durham, admitted nine offences and was sentenced to two years’ detention.

The court had previously heard that Grenfell assaulted his first girlfriend several times between August and November 2023 before they broke up. 

The teenager then threatened to release intimate images of the girl if she did not get back with him, as part of a two-month long barrage of harassment. 

When she refused, Grenfell drove his car at her outside a pub and then attacked her stepfather and smashed the man’s windscreen.

Ben Grenfell (pictured), from Burnopfield, County Durham, admitted nine offences and was sentenced to two years’ detention

Judge Gittins deferred sentencing on Grenfell after he admitted offences including assault, dangerous driving and criminal damage. 

The judge said there was ‘hope and expectation’ that Grenfell would get the medical help he needed after a medical report described Grenfell’s mental health struggles, which were exacerbated by the teenager’s use of alcohol and drugs. 

Judge Gittins also believed Grenfell would use the opportunity of working for his father’s plumbing business to become a ‘law-abiding member of the community’. 

Within a few months, the court heard Grenfell started a relationship with a new girlfriend which quickly turned violent, abusive and controlling.

Prosecutor Jordan Parkinson said Grenfell’s campaign of abuse saw him slapping and punching her, dragging her by the hair and making her drive him around with an eye he had punched shut.

After she ended the relationship and blocked him on social media, Grenfell contacted her several weeks later using fake profiles to say he was sorry and was getting mental health support. 

Ms Parkinson said the woman was ‘manipulated’ into resuming their relationship and Grenfell again became aggressive and controlling. 

He would regularly fly into ‘jealous’ rages, culminating with him repeatedly slapping her on October 14 because he felt she had taken too long having a shower. 

In a statement read to the court, the woman said she was ‘walking on eggshells’ around him and lied to friends and family about what had caused the injuries he inflicted to protect him.

Grenfell then bombarded the victim with messages after she broke up with him, many of which were threatening and abusive, the court heard.  

Police were finally informed when Grenfell repeatedly rang the woman’s work place. 

She told the court that she changed herself in an effort to make Grenfell happy and feared what he would do to her. 

She said that this fear led her to stop seeing her friends and allow Grenfell access to her phone. 

The woman believed Grenfell was an ‘extremely dangerous’ abuser and added that the violent behaviour he claimed were ‘mental health episodes’ was actually his real self. 

Upon hearing this, Judge Gittins told the abuser:  ‘I very much regret giving you the outstanding opportunity that I did and I apologise to your second victim because I put her in harm’s way.’

Grenfell admitted assault, coercive behaviour and stalking causing fear of violence.

Restraining orders banning him from contacting either of the two women or referring to them on social media were also made to last for 10 years.

Grenfell was also banned from driving for three years.

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Judge apologises to domestic abuse victim for ‘putting her in harm’s way’ after he spared her serial abuser boyfriend jail – despite campaign of terror against his ex partner

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