A battered mother of one died after her violent lesbian partner beat her so badly that it left her ‘looking like the Elephant Man,’ a court heard today.
Becky Reid, 32, regularly battered mother-of-one Lyndsey Vaux, 30, leaving her ‘looking like the elephant man’ with her whole head so badly swollen, Manchester Crown Court was told on Tuesday.
Reid along with her mother, Gillian Reid, 57, are both jointly charged with the murder of Miss Vaux and grievous bodily harm on another woman, Samantha Newns – a previous partner of Becky Reid.
Paul Reid QC, opening the case for the prosecution, told the jury of six women and six men: ‘The prosecution case is that each of Becky Reid’s two partners was subject to years of controlling, abusive, cruel and violent behaviour at the hands of Becky Reid.
Pictured left is Gillian Reid leaving Manchester Crown Court, where she is accused of murder and GBH alongside her daughter Becky. Pictured right is victim Lyndsey Vaux
‘Although there were times when Gillian Reid did try to stop her daughter being violent, there were occasions when Gillian Reid herself joined in the assaults against each of the two women.
‘Indeed it appears that there was a pattern to Becky Reid’s behaviour whilst in a relationship – domineering, controlling and increasingly violent and forcing her partner to beg for money in order to feed her own alcohol and cannabis habits.
‘She manipulated both of her partners to the extent that their fear of her was so great and their self esteem was so low as to make it impossible for them to break away from her or to seek help.’
Earlier the court heard bisexual Miss Vaux had a child and lots of friends in Stockport before she began a relationship with Reid in 2009 and moved to the Wigan area.
But in the months before she died on May 22 last year, Miss Vaux appeared downtrodden, malnourished, hungry and thirsty and was constantly bruised and going downhill rapidly after suffering months of abuse, allegedly at the hands of both mother and daughter.
When questioned the victim would make excuses for her injuries and refused to get the police involved, the court heard.
On the day she died Gillian Reid called an ambulance to the house the three women shared on Sydney Street in Platt Bridge, Wigan, with Becky telling medics her partner had ‘just collapsed.’
Lyndsey had lost eight stone in weight and a post mortem revealed 90 external injuries as well as serious internal injuries, including rib fractures.
When questioned the victim would make excuses for her injuries and refused to get the police involved, the court heard
Experts concluded she died not from a single fatal injury but from the combined effects of multiple injuries.
After her death neighbours and local shopkeepers in the area came forward to say Miss Vaux was regularly seen being attacked, on one occasion Gillian Reid climbing off her mobility scooter to kick Miss Vaux in the ribs.
As police investigated her death they became aware of an earlier partner of Becky Reid who was also beaten up by both mother and daughter.
Samantha Newns met Reid in an online chat room for lesbians in 2004 and they began a relationship which became increasingly violent.
Miss Newns, now aged 37, said she was assaulted around 50 times by Reid, who would be ‘foaming at the mouth’ as she punched, kicked, stamped and swore during attacks on her.
She broke off the relationship after a final attack in June 2008 left her with a missing tooth and a fractured eye socket.
Mr Reid added: ‘It is the prosecution case that Samantha Newns was lucky in that she managed to extricate herself from her abusive and destructive relationship with Becky Reid before she suffered the same fate as Lyndsey Vaux. Lyndsey Vaux was not so lucky.’
Both defendants deny a single charge of murder and one count of grievous bodily harm.
The trial, expected to last up to six weeks, was adjourned until tomorrow morning.
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