A mother-of-two has revealed how she thought she was going to die when her violent boyfriend kept her prisoner and battered her after she refused to give him money.
Kerry Pearson, 42, was left with a broken nose, fractured eye socket, internal bleeding and a head injury after Christopher Lillico, 26, attacked her in their home in Blythe, Northumberland.
The thug held her prisoner for hours, isolated her from friends and smashed up her phone during nine months of abuse.
Lillico was jailed in November 2018 at Newcastle Crown Court for eight years and one month for GBH with intent and false imprisonment. A lifelong restraining order was put in place to protect Ms Pearson.
Kerry Pearson (pictured), 42, was left with a broken nose, fractured eye socket, internal bleeding and a head injury after Christopher Lillico, 26, attacked her in their home in Blythe, Northumberland
In March 2018, Lillico was arrested after he held Ms Pearson prisoner in her own home after she refused to loan him money and subjected her to hours of violence.
The mother-of-two said: ‘I didn’t think I was going to survive, I thought that was it.
Lillico (pictured with Ms Pearson) was jailed in November 2018 at Newcastle Crown Court for eight years and one month for GBH with intent and false imprisonment
‘All I could think about was my children. He’d told me the next time they saw me again it would be my dead body.
‘It was my daughter’s 18th birthday and he came and asked me for money and I said I couldn’t give it to him because it would leave me short.
‘He said that I cared about my kids more than him so obviously I said my children would always come first and he just started laying into me.
‘Then he locked the front door and he was laying into me for hours. I passed out from the head injury and when I woke up around half an hour later he was sleeping next to me with a knife in his hand.
‘I thought that was my time to escape so I went to the window because I thought I’d be able to scream for help and I tried to climb out but he woke up and dragged me back in.
‘He smashed my phone up a few weeks earlier so I had to rely on him to communicate with the outside world.
In March 2018, Lillico was arrested after he held Ms Pearson prisoner in her own home after she refused to loan him money and subjected her to hours of violence
‘He’d completely trashed the flat so I persuaded him to leave while I tided up and when he’d gone I ran to my brother’s house.
‘Before he left, he said he loved me and it was my fault and I said I was sorry just so he’d go.
‘I didn’t even know what my injuries looked like because the only mirror is in the bathroom and he’d smashed the bulb so I couldn’t see.’
The mother-of-two (pictured) said: ‘I didn’t think I was going to survive, I thought that was it’
Ms Pearson, a former sales company worker, said that the start of their relationship had been perfect, but kitchen assistant Lillico turned violent just a few months in.
She said: ‘I saw him near my house a few times and I just went over to him and asked for his number and it went from there.
‘The relationship was fine at first, there were no red flags whatsoever. Then one day, I can’t remember what we were arguing about but I just felt a blow to the face and I fell over and hit my head on a heavy ornament.
‘I was so shocked. He told everyone that the black eye he’d given me came from me falling onto the ornament and I went along with it.
Ms Pearson (pictured), a former sales company worker, said that the start of their relationship had been perfect, but kitchen assistant Lillico turned violent just a few months in
‘He apologised but he said it was my fault. He never said that he wouldn’t do it again.
‘After that, he would punch and slap me but I never told anybody because he’d isolated me from my friends and family.
‘I’m really close with my daughter but she ended up moving out because she hated living with him. She couldn’t prove that he was hitting me because I would deny it.’
Ms Pearson now lives in fear that her attacker will come back to find her when he’s released and has been too scared to leave the house.
Ms Pearson now lives in fear that her attacker will come back to find her when he’s released and has been too scared to leave the house. Pictured: Ms Pearson’s flat trashed by Lillico
She said: ‘He could be out soon and I’m absolutely petrified. He said if I ever got him arrested he’d kill me and I got him arrested and put in prison.
‘I only went out of the house on my own for the first time to go to the shops last week.
‘It’s taken me three years to feel comfortable to just leave the house on my own and I still have nightmares.
‘I started drinking heavily to block it all out but I stopped so I didn’t lose my children over something he caused. I’m taking my power back.
‘I’m waiting to get therapy so there’ll be a lot of tears when I go back over the trauma.’
She said: ‘He could be out soon and I’m absolutely petrified. He said if I ever got him arrested he’d kill me and I got him arrested and put in prison’
Ms Pearson is speaking out to encourage victims of domestic violence to seek help.
She said: ‘I didn’t want to press charges but my daughter begged me and I just imagined if someone had done that to her.
‘People ask me why I didn’t leave when he first hit me but he isolated me so I thought the only person I had in the world was him.
‘Anyone in an abusive relationship should speak to someone, anyone and try to get out even if it takes weeks of planning.’
