Exclusive:Doncaster abuser cut victim's mattress in half after trying to call her approximately 260 times, court told
He was also sentenced for crimes related to car thefts
An abusive man turned his violence against a police officer after his partner finally called for help to deal with his coercive behaviour, a court has been told.
Bradley Appleby, 28, was described as being in an “on and off” relationship with his partner between 2024 and 2025 at Sheffield Crown Court on Monday (June 15).
During this time he began becoming controlling, dictating what she could where and who she could see, while checking her phone and making accusations that she was cheating, the court heard.
“He would assault her regularly - two to three times per week,” prosecuting barrister Mark Thomas told the court.
It was explained that in one fit of rage after his partner had gone to a party, he attempted to call her approximately 260 times and when she didn’t answer cut her mattress in half.
However things came to a head last July, during a violent episode where he said “today is the day I kill you” - the court heard.
Mr Thomas said that Appleby grabbed her son’s iPad from him, punching the screen and snapping it over his knee.
He then grabbed a knife from the kitchen and proceeded to stab and punch the wall, it was heard.
It was explained that after Appleby headed upstairs - kicking out the spindles from his partner’s bannisters in the process - the police were called.
“He ran at one of the officers,” Mr Thomas said.
“The officer was standing inside the house next to the front door.
“The defendant rant into the officer in an attempt to push him out of the way.”
In a statement after his arrest - read out by Mr Thomas - the victim said she was “terrified of what the defendant was capable of.”
Alongside charges of coercive control and assault of an emergency worker, Appleby faced sentencing for other offences related to the robbery of vehicles, which he was connected to after DNA evidence left on an empty can and flapjack crumbs were found in the vehicles, the court heard.
When providing defence, Appleby’s counsel Stuart Bell said that this was his client’s first time in custody and it was having a “negative affect on him.”
Mr Bell also explained how since these incidents, Appleby - of Tennyson Avenue, in the Campsall area of Doncaster - had begun another relationship, with his new partner presenting a statement to the court about “the person he can be, the person he wants to be.”
“This was not an isolated incident of controlling behaviour,” Recorder Ayesha Smart said when passing sentence.
She went on to describe his behaviour as “prolonged and persistent,” adding that Appleby had one prior conviction for drug related offences.
He was ultimately sentenced to 52 months’ imprisonment.
- RELATED: Police renew appeal one year after 91-year-old attacked at home
- RELATED: Boy, 17, accused of sex attacks at train station and college
- RELATED: Pot growers had over 500 plants in houses connected by hole in wall
- RELATED: Police becoming "increasingly concerned" for missing woman not seen in a month