A radio DJ has been jailed for a vicious two-year campaign of bullying and violence that left his battered and bruised wife ‘a prisoner in her own life’.
Marc Henry-Wallis, 44, beat his partner almost weekly, while one attack left her with two broken ribs, a court heard.
His victim has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, is afraid to leave her home and now carries a panic alarm with her at all times.
Henry-Wallis, formerly of Trafford, Greater Manchester, was a DJ for Wish FM, which serves the Wigan and St Helens areas.
Marc Henry-Wallis (pictured) has been jailed for a vicious two-year campaign of bullying and violence that left his battered and bruised wife ‘a prisoner in her own life’
He was jailed for four years after he admitted five counts of assault causing actual bodily harm at Manchester Crown Court.
Prosecutor Marie Brannan told the court the defendant, also known as Marc Henry, repeatedly assaulted his victim between October 2012 and October 2014, almost as soon as they were married.
Drink-fuelled Henry-Wallis would punch his wife in the head, back and arms, taking care not to strike her in the face, so he could continue his campaign of violence without her injuries being noticed, the court was told.
His victim would frequently crouch down during the beatings and once broke fingers trying fend off one onslaught, said Miss Brannan.
His wife only came to see herself as a victim of domestic violence a year after the relationship had ended and Henry-Wallis had left the marital home.
The moment she realised she was a victim came when she saw a consultant orthopaedic surgeon about pain in her shoulder – another injury inflicted by her husband – which was giving her sleepless nights, according to the prosecutor.
The woman, who has a child from a previous relationship, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder when she went to see her GP in March, 2016.
Henry-Wallis was jailed for four years after he admitted five counts of assault causing actual bodily harm at Manchester Crown Court
It was only then she told police although there were so many beatings she couldn’t remember them all.
In one particularly brutal attack, just two months after the couple had married, Henry-Wallis locked his wife out of their home and when she managed to get in through the garage he pushed her into some boxes.
While she curled up into a ball on the ground, he punched her into her side.
‘She felt instant, agonising pain and was left in shock,’ said Miss Brannan.
She went Altrincham General Hospital, where medics found she had two fractured ribs although she didn’t report the assault to the police at the time, the court heard.
Henry-Wallis ‘expressed remorse and blamed tiredness from his job as a DJ’, said Miss Brannan.
The couple moved house but in March, 2013, he attacked her again, leaving her with bruising to her back and arms.
In July, 2013, Henry-Wallis flew into a rage while he and his wife were drinking Prosecco from paper cups as they walked through Preston to celebrate her son’s graduation.
Later, he burst into the bathroom of their hotel room to punch his wife in the head and arms.
On a trip to Wales to celebrate their first wedding anniversary, Henry-Wallis had another outburst in a beach-side restaurant, apparently upset his mother had not sent a card.
He drove away, leaving his wife alone in the restaurant. When she managed to find her own way to their hotel, he again attacked her in the bathroom, hitting his wife repeatedly in the head and shoulders.
She handed police pictures of other injuries he inflicted in 2013 and 2014 although she couldn’t remember each incident.
Henry-Wallis would punch his wife in the head, back and arms, taking care not to strike her in the face, so he could continue his campaign of violence without her injuries being noticed
Miss Brannan said: ‘She continues to suffer the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder…with regular panic attacks, flashbacks, trembling, and being left continually on edge and feeling something was about to happen, experiencing nightmares where she’s fighting the defendant off and being attacked in her home, and describing how she’s too scared to get out of bed and too frightened to leave the house.’
In a victim impact statement read out in court, the woman said: ‘It’s broken my heart that the person who loved me turned out to abuse me.’
She described how she now carries a panic alarm with her at all times and how she transformed from someone who was ‘happy and confident’ into someone who was ‘worried all the time’.
She revealed how she met Henry-Wallis ‘after leaving a previous abusive relationship’ and believed she would be ‘safe’ with him.
The woman now continues to have counselling and has no relationships except with her son.
Brigid Baillie, defending, pointed out her client had no previous convictions and had admitted his guilt from the outset of the case.
Referring to 27 counselling sessions he had received, she added: ‘This is a man who recognises he has problems and has sought help for these. He’s deeply remorseful.’
Judge Rudland dismissed arguments that the defendant should have his prison sentence suspended and said the attack, which left the victim, with broken ribs should have attracted a more serious charge than assault causing actual bodily harm.
He said: ‘This case is extremely serious. You have bullied and demeaned your wife through your constant and unremitting violence towards her and reduced her to a form of life that was hitherto unknown to her.
‘From being outgoing and personable, holding down employment and enjoying herself as people do, to someone who is a prisoner in her own life. That’s a consequence of what you have done to her.
‘You used her as a punch bag for all your demons, all your frustrations and all your anxieties. She’s the one who bore the brunt of that.’
The judge said domestic violence had reached ‘epidemic proportions in this country’ but that some women ‘are finding the strength to come forward’ while others are ‘suffering in silence’.
‘Violence of this sort is normalised when undetected, disregarded and unpunished,’ Judge Rudland added.
‘That’s now changing and violence of this sort is being properly reflected in the sentences imposed.’
Henry-Wallis showed no reaction when he was sentenced to four years behind bars.
His 18-year-old son, sitting in the public gallery, sobbed as his father was led away by dock officers.
The defendant was also made the subject of an indefinite restraining order and ordered to pay a £120 victim surcharge.