Man jailed for six years and six months for assaulting and coercive controlling Kiena Dawes

A man has been jailed for assaulting and coercive controlling a Fleetwood mum who went on to take her own life.

Ryan Wellings was found guilty of domestically abusing 23-year-old Kiena Dawes following a six-week trial at Preston Crown Court.

He was acquitted of her manslaughter.

On 22nd July 2022, Kiena was found deceased by British Transport Police on the railway line near Barnacre.  

Kiena had been reported missing a short time earlier having left her young daughter with a friend, along with her mobile phone which contained a suicide note. 

A jury at Preston Crown Court heard how Kiena was introduced to 30-year-old Wellings in January 2020, Within the first few weeks, Wellings had Kiena’s named tattooed on his neck, and two weeks later he had a portrait of her face tattooed on the back of his left leg.

However, within a month of the relationship Wellings started to become abusive towards her, resulting in Kiena sending him a message which read: “Stop hurting me now xxxxx.”

By April 2020, Wellings had proposed to Kiena who had moved down to Dorset temporarily during Covid lockdown to stay with a friend. However during that month the same friend noticed that Wellings’ behaviour towards Kiena would change dramatically at the drop of a hat. One minute he would buy her extravagant gifts such as champagne and the next he would belittle Kiena to the extent she felt on edge around him.

The following month Kiena and Wellings moved in together. On 3rd May 2020, Kiena’s friend got a call to go to her flat. When she arrived she found the flat had been trashed and Kiena told her that Wellings had gotten into a jealous rage and attempted to strangle her with an iPhone charger.

Kiena later made a statement to police that on 29th May 2020 Wellings had thrown a chair at her after accusing her of being unfaithful. After verbally abusing Kiena and telling her to kill herself, Wellings threw her to the floor causing her to cut her foot on some smashed glass.

In October 2020, Kiena took out the tenancy on a flat in Fleetwood. 

In December 2020 Kiena told Wellings she was leaving him. He demanded all the money from her bank account. He then assaulted her in the presence of children and Kiena ran out of the property in fear. The following day Wellings apologised and they got back together.

Kiena fell pregnant in February 2021, and after initially appearing to be excited Wellings began to emotionally abuse Kiena on a daily basis. She believed he began to cheat on her. Such was the deterioration in Kiena’s mental health, she became suicidal.

Kiena wrote: “He would tell me no one would ever believe me about him abusing me due to my mental health. He would say he doesn't want to be with me because I'm too fat. He would say that I am stuck with him and no one else would be with me.”

Because of her vulnerable mental state, Wellings told Kiena that if she reported him to the authorities her child would be taken off her as soon as it was born.

On 17th April 2021, Kiena kicked Wellings out of the flat because he had been cheating on her. She packed all his belongings and put them outside, but that resulted in Wellings’ associates making threats, including to set her car on fire. Wellings updated his Facebook profile to show him sitting in a car, smiling and holding a lighter.

The following month Kiena – who worked as a hairdresser – told one of her customers that, during an argument in her flat Wellings had smashed up a memorial area she has made for her father who had died the previous July.

On 5th July 2021, Wellings again assaulted Kiena leaving her with a black eye.

In a statement Kiena said: ““I was about six months pregnant when Ryan gave me a black eye and he hit me to the floor. Ryan tried to explain to family it was self-defence because I was apparently insane. I rang the police straight away. Prior to police arrival he was telling me that if I continued I would get our baby taken away from us as soon as it was born and that this would all be my fault. On police arrival Ryan’s attitude changed and he put on an act, he was very pleasant. I told police it was just a verbal argument because I was scared about our baby and losing Ryan.”

Wellings later texted Kiena to say: “I’m so sorry for everything. I love you.”

On 4th August 2021, Kiena called police to say she had split up with Wellings was trying to take property from her flat. During a conversation with an officer captured on body word camera, Kiena said that Wellings had previously assaulted her and said that “he just says if I ring anyone to help that they’ll just take my kid.”

In October 2021, Kiena’s baby was born and although Wellings’ behaviour initially improved, he soon became verbally and physically abusive again.

Kiena wrote in a statement: “When the baby was born and throughout labour he was amazing with me so I thought it was perfect and to stay with him. It wasn’t long till he was hurting me again. I told him I didn’t want anything happening around the baby. I started to get hit around the head every week now even if it’s just a slap. But he’s made me believe that’s acceptable because I argue back with him. This would happen in the car, in the house, anywhere.”

Kiena later wrote in a statement that around the turn of that year, Wellings became violent again and threatened her with a drill.

Kiena later described an incident at the start of Marach 2022 where Wellings dunked her head in a baby bath during an argument. She said that incident left her feeling suicidal.

Four days later Kiena made an entry in the notes section of her iPhone of all the abusive and threatening thing Wellings had said to her.

On 13th June 2022, Wellings and Kiena got into an argument after he used aftershave from her late father’s memory box – something she had asked him not to do in the past. During that argument, Wellings assaulted Kiena.

Two days later a witness saw Wellings being verbally abusive and aggressive towards Kiena while they were sat in her car at traffic lights.

On 11th July 2022 Wellings subjected Kiena (pictured below) to such a serious assault, it rendered her unconscious.

Today (16^th January 2024), Judge Robert Altham, The Recorder of Preston, sentenced Wellings to six years and six months.

In a victim impact statement, Kienna’s mum, Angela, said: “I feel like I have lived Kiena’s domestic abuse with her, and what I mean by this is that I was her main source of support, and I experienced the full range of emotions that Kiena had to go through with her. I was so scared of saying the wrong thing to Kiena, as I needed her to know that she could come to me anytime and I didn’t want her to close up.

“There were times that I would find out that things had happened a couple of days afterwards, such as the black eye in July 2021, and I know that sometimes Kiena tried to protect me by not saying things. As a mother, you do everything that you can to help your child and I have had to live through watching my daughter tell me that she was terrified and trapped, and when she said these things, it literally took my breath away, as I didn’t know how to help, I felt helpless.

“After an incident with Wellings, Kiena would come to be safe and stay with me, I can only explain that I would see a light coming back on, and that she would get some strength, but Wellings always found a way to take back control and take her strength away.

“It is heart wrenching to see your child hurt from anything, even by accident, but seeing your daughter hurt by someone else is sickening."

Kiena’s brother, Kynan, said: “My feelings around what happened to Kiena have been made worse by the fact that Wellings has showed absolutely no remorse for how he treated her. To be honest though this does not shock me. He said he loved her and claimed that he never did anything wrong. However, afterwards all he did was go into protection mode and hide because he knew exactly what he had done. At least now he can spend the rest of his life being viewed as an abuser and person who beats up women.

“I want to acknowledge the people who have followed this case online, on the news and in the papers. I want people to see that domestic violence is not OK and men should respect their partners by showing them nothing but love and kindness. I also want to say to the people who may be suffering domestic violence to seek help and remove yourself from the situation. Go the Police or if you don’t feel you can do this speak to family or friends.”

Kiena’s grandma, Irene Ball, said: “Kiena was a very beautiful, kind and happy girl. She was one of my five grandchildren and her daughter is my great grandchild. I was extremely close to Kiena and she meant the world to me. Kiena was a really good hairdresser and she would often come to my house to do my hair. She also came to my house twice a week for her tea. I always really looked forward to those visits.

“All Kiena wanted out of life was to be happy. I became aware she was in a relation with Ryan Wellings. I didn’t know him very well and only met him a few times. It was obvious to me that throughout this relationship there were good times but also some very sad times. Kiena had the most beautiful smile, a smile I will never forget. However, during her relationship with Ryan Wellings I could sometimes see beyond her smile. I noticed the times when her smile was false but she also tried to reassure me by saying: “I’m OK grandma.” Kiena wasn’t OK but she was selfless. She kept a lot of her anguish to herself and I know she did this to protect me.

Kiena was protective over me so she didn’t go into great detail with me about her relationship with Ryan Wellings, but there were times that she did open up to me about the issues with him. Hearing about these issues hurt and upset me. During their relationship she told me that Ryan Wellings had hurt her and she had also told me about the incident involving the drill. I was absolutely horrified. She was my granddaughter and I loved her and the thought of someone treating her this way is simply too much the bear. She told me about their arguments and she told me in enough detail for me to be really concerned. I told Kiena that he would really badly hurt her one day and I pleaded with her not to go back to him. I asked her what she was waiting for. She always went back to him because all she wanted was to be happy.”

DCI Andy Fallows, of Lancashire Police, said: “My thoughts today are with Kiena and the Dawes family in what has been another extremely challenging day for them. Listening to the harrowing victim impact statements read out in court, it is clear how truly loved Kiena was and how much she continues to be missed.

“While I am satisfied Ryan Wellings has been given a custodial sentence for his abhorrent, sustained and cowardly conduct towards Kiena, I know no sentence will ever be enough for the Dawes family.

“While lessons will undoubtedly be learned from this case, I want to take this opportunity to appeal directly to anyone who finds themself in an abusive relationship or knows or suspects someone else might be. Please make contact with the authorities or reach out to domestic abuse organisations for help and support. You are not alone and there is help out there for you.”

If you or someone you know has been the victim of a crime report it online via https://doitonline.lancashire.police.uk/ or call 101. In an emergency, always call 999.