An NHS nurse killed herself fearing that no one would believe her thug boyfriend regularly beat her up, a court heard as he was convicted of assault.
Peter Yeung, 35, throttled and kicked Alexandra Reid, 30, but callously claimed she ‘must have’ given herself the injuries, which included a busted lip.
Ms Reid was found dead at her home in Anfield, Liverpool, on February 24.
Yeung stood trial at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court yesterday where he was convicted of two charges of assault and admitted one of criminal damage.
Alexandra Reid (pictured above), 30, was found dead at her home in Liverpool on February 24. Ms Reid’s sister, Katy, said the community nurse was ‘loved by everyone’
Peter Yeung (pictured above), 35, stood trial at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court yesterday where he was convicted of two charges of assault and admitted one of criminal damage
District Judge Andrew Shaw said Yeung’s version of events wasn’t plausible.
The court heard how Yeung, a former takeaway worker, tried to tell Ms Reid that no-one would believe she was being abused.
He even tried to phone the police to cover his tracks, before she eventually reported him.
Angela Conlan, prosecuting, questioned why Yeung wasn’t brave enough to plead guilty to the assaults, even after distressing images of Ms Reid’s bruises were shown to the court.
An inquest in August heard that Ms Reid took her own life seven days after making statements to police.
Judge Shaw described her death as a ‘tragic shadow’ that hung over the trial on Wednesday.
Yeung was found to have assaulted Ms Reid on January 17 and February 17. He admitted causing criminal damage to her mobile phone.
The trial heard the couple had been together for about a year, but when they moved in together their relationship turned ‘rocky’ as the pair argued about money.
Yeung, who admitted he was a gambling addict, was accused by Ms Reid in a police statement of taking her money to spend in casinos after he was made unemployed from a takeaway, which he denied.
Ms Reid also supported the couple for four months, paying all of the rent, and this led to arguments between the pair, the court heard.
Yeung (pictured above) was found to have assaulted Ms Reid on January 17 and February 17. He admitted causing criminal damage to her mobile phone
On January 21, Yeung and Ms Reid got into an argument before he was due to leave for a new hospitality job in Widnes, Cheshire.
A statement from Ms Reid, read in court by Ms Conlan, said: ‘I can’t remember what the argument was over, but I told him to leave which caused him to lose his temper.
‘He threw me across a wall in our home, he hit me against the wall and he pushed me down the stairs. He started throwing things around and he booted me into the dining room table.’
Ms Reid went on to say she barricaded herself in the bathroom with her back against the door, but Yeung kicked the door and pulled her out by the hair.
She added: ‘He called me a s**g and said: “Watch what happens to you, I hate you”.
She said he then ‘throttled’ her and took her phone away.
As the court was shown images of Ms Reid’s bruised body, Yeung admitted a bruise on her arm might have been caused by simply moving her out of the way because she tried to block him from leaving the house for work.
Yeung (pictured), of Anfield, Liverpool, was bailed under the conditions that he must not enter L11 or contact any witnesses in the case
But he questioned the other pictures, saying: ‘I saw her two weeks or so later and they [bruises] weren’t there, she didn’t mention it.’
Ms Reid was found to have bruises on her palm, arm, ankle, neck, chest and neck.
The court heard Mss Reid travelled to see her friend, Ruth Kelly, after the incident.
Giving evidence, Ms Kelly said: ‘She was in a state of utter distress, crying and shaking. It took me a while to calm her down.’
Ms Kelly also told police Ms Reid had a ‘thumb-shape’ bruise on her neck, suggesting she was strangled and couldn’t have given herself the injuries.
The couple split up shortly after this, but still had a month remaining on their tenancy.
Yeung relocated to Sheffield for two weeks, but on February 17 he returned to the house where the second assault occurred.
Yeung claimed everything was fine but then Ms Reid suggested he wasn’t really in Sheffield and was being unfaithful.
Under questioning from his solicitor, Vicky Balenski, Yeung claimed she tore bed sheets off a bed he was making and threw his phone against the wall.
However, Ms Conlan said: ‘Alex details being in an argument with the defendant and he elbowed her in the face, bruising her left cheek and bursting her lip.
‘Her phone was also smashed as she says he smashed it.’
In her statement, Ms Reid said Yeung smashed the phone so she couldn’t phone the police for help.
The court heard how Yeung (above), a former takeaway worker, tried to tell Ms Reid that no-one would believe she was being abused
The court heard how Yeung brazenly phoned the police to say Ms Reid was going to make up that he had hit her and he wanted to call them to get his version of events across.
He claimed Ms Reid said: ‘I’m going to get you done in.’
In a haunting 999 call played to the court, Yeung could be heard shouting at Ms Reid and saying ‘I haven’t hit you’, before she managed to ring the emergency services some time later to ask if they were on their way.
The force did not arrive until eight hours later.
Yeung said he ‘didn’t know’ how Ms Reid’s lip burst and shamefully said she had plotted to falsely report him to the police for domestic abuse ‘like she had with previous partners’.
Karl Houghton, one of Ms Reid’s former partners, was convicted of assaulting her years ago, the court heard.
However, Houghton was called ‘brave’ and praised by Judge Shaw for appearing in court to clear Ms Reid’s name and admit to assaulting her himself.
Houghton said it was ‘one of the biggest regrets of his life’ but admitted Ms Reid was telling the truth and he did assault her.
Judge Shaw said Yeung’s version of the assaults were not plausible, and he found him guilty of both counts.
Speaking after August’s inquest, Ms Reid’s sister, Katy Reid, said the community nurse was ‘loved by everyone’.
Coroner Anita Bhardwaj concluded at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court that Ms Reid’s death was suicide. Sentencing was adjourned until February 8 next year (file photo)
Katy said: ‘I don’t know anyone who didn’t like her. Everyone’s just really heartbroken that it’s happened.
‘She was good to all her friends and always there for them no matter what.
‘Even if they rang her in the middle of the night, she would go and have a cup of tea with them, she was that kind of person.’
At the inquest, Ms Reid’s mother, Annette Leonard, said: ‘She was loved by everyone who knew her.
‘She meant the world to us and she made a difference to everyone’s lives that she touched.’
Coroner Anita Bhardwaj concluded that Ms Reid’s death was suicide.
Yeung, of Anfield, Liverpool, was bailed under the conditions that he must not enter L11 or contact any witnesses in the case.
Sentencing was adjourned until February 8 next year.
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