A landscape gardener is confronting a potential life sentence after a jury took under 27 minutes to convict him for breaking his teacher lover's neck when she tried to end their relationship.
A Relationship Turned Violent
Trudi Burgess, 57, was left paralysed from the chest down after Robert Easom, 56, flew into what was described as an 'uncontrollable' rage. The court heard how the strong gardener, compared to a 'monster' and The Incredible Hulk, pinned the mother-of-two face down on his bed and placed his full body weight on her neck until it snapped.
In harrowing video testimony filmed from her hospital bed in intensive care, Ms Burgess recounted the moment she heard her spine crack and her body gradually go numb. Easom admitted causing the spinal injury that has left Ms Burgess a tetraplegic, requiring round-the-clock care, but denied intending to cause serious harm, telling police: ‘I love Trudi more than life itself.’
The Final Confrontation and a Cowardly Defence
The jury at Preston Crown Court took less than half an hour to find Easom, who refused to give evidence in his own defence, guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. It was also revealed that, ahead of the four-day trial, he pleaded guilty to coercive and controlling behaviour during the couple's eight-year relationship.
The court heard that the relationship began in 2017 when Ms Burgess, grieving the death of her husband from a brain tumour, was emotionally vulnerable. What started as loving turned abusive, with Easom previously wrapping her head in a bedsheet until she couldn't breathe and headbutting her in a car.
The final attack occurred on February 17 at Easom's home in Chipping, Ribble Valley. When Ms Burgess told him she was leaving, he flew into a 'blind' rage. She described in her evidence how he folded her head into her chest, causing her neck to break. Easom initially lied to a 999 operator, claiming she had 'fallen out of bed,' and later told police it was a 'playfight that went wrong.' His defence now accepts these were lies.
A Life Forever Changed and a Family's Anguish
Following the verdict, Ms Burgess’ brother-in-law, Tim Bashall, stated the family was relieved but that there are 'no winners.' Ms Burgess, a former secondary school teacher of French and Spanish, will never walk again. She spent over three months in intensive care and remains in a specialist spinal injuries unit.
She is in constant pain, describing it as being in a 'suit of armour two sizes too small.' She can no longer perform basic bodily functions like coughing and requires help to drink. Cognitively, however, she remains entirely sound. Her two children have started a GoFundMe page to help fund her ongoing care, describing their mother as a 'warm, gentle, intelligent, and endlessly creative' lady.
Judge Robert Altham warned Easom that it would reflect badly on him if he failed to attend his sentencing hearing in February, where Ms Burgess plans to read her victim impact statement. The maximum sentence for GBH with intent is life imprisonment.
