A mother was left reeling in shock when a Google search exposed her new boyfriend's chilling criminal history. Louis Martin's short-term partner uncovered that he had been using a false identity, before discovering he was a convicted rapist.
Relentless harassment after breakup
The sex offender then refused to accept their relationship was over, subjecting her to weeks of relentless harassment and abuse. Most disturbingly, he went on to assault her in full view of her six-year-old daughter.
Liverpool Crown Court was told that Martin had previously been found guilty of rape in 2007 and ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for life. Derek Jones, prosecuting, outlined how Martin, of Wheatfield Road in Cronton, began a relationship with a 26-year-old woman in February this year after claiming his name was Louis Bonner.
Discovery of the truth
Although she had made clear to him that this "wasn't anything serious", the defendant frequently spent nights at her Wirral home, while her young child was there. Her worries started to mount towards the end of March when she awoke to discover Martin rifling through her mobile phone, with the 41-year-old also claiming she was meeting other men.
He also strangely questioned her on one occasion about whether she'd ever been behind bars, at which point he confessed that he had previously served time but insisted this had been for different reasons, reports the Liverpool Echo. This prompted his girlfriend to carry out internet searches, during which she uncovered news reports about Martin's rape conviction. She remembered "feeling faint" upon this discovery and becoming worried about her daughter's wellbeing.
Threats and violence
At this point, Martin apparently realised what she'd learnt and told her: "I know what you've found out. I'm going to go." She informed Martin that she wished to end their relationship as a consequence. However, Mr Jones said: "The defendant simply could not accept that.
"Over the next couple of months, she describes the contact from him as relentless. He would turn up at her house, contact her sister and even started contacting her friends, adding them on social media. In one message, he said he would kick her door in and turn up at her sister's house."
The victim later disclosed that she'd been on a night out in Liverpool city centre when Martin continuously contacted her and "demanded to know where she was" while instructing her to send photographs to verify her location. He subsequently told her he was in a pub adjacent to the one she was in and chillingly threatened: "Leave or I will kill everyone with you."
Assault in front of daughter
After the complainant mislaid her front door key during the evening, Martin claimed he possessed it before driving her home and staying overnight. He would "turn up all the time", at which point she'd let him in because she was "scared for herself and her daughter", with her former partner having declared he'd otherwise climb through via scaffolding at the back of her home.
Martin proceeded to threaten suicide if she refused to restart their relationship and messaged her sister: "I'm obsessed with her. I'm not going to leave her alone. If she thinks she can get away from me, she's got no chance." On May 4, Martin then appeared at her house and began hammering on her door before snatching her phone and leaving.
Martin, who during this period had provided her with a new iPhone and SIM card in what appeared to be an effort to make her lose her stored contacts, was subsequently said to have "insisted" on driving her to retrieve her old phone. He then grabbed it from her, kicked her, grabbed her by the back of her neck and forced her head down, causing her to collide with the car while her daughter was present in the vehicle.
Victim impact and sentencing
His relentless contact then persisted over the subsequent days until Martin was eventually arrested on May 8. In a statement which was read to the court on her behalf, she said: "From the beginning, I made it clear I didn't want anything serious. His behaviour quickly became controlling and intrusive.
"I struggle to get through daily tasks that once felt normal. I barely sleep, usually only two or three hours per night. When I do, I relive everything in my head, waking up exhausted. There hasn't been single day where I haven't thought about what happened and what he might do next. I'm scared that if I let someone in the same thing will happen again."
Martin has a total of five previous convictions for nine offences, also including failing to comply with notification requirements in 2016 and 2022. He meanwhile received three years for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and controlling and coercive behaviour in 2017.
Peter White, defending, informed the court that Martin had experienced a "cardiac episode" at the police station after his arrest, subsequently undergoing heart surgery and remaining under armed guard in hospital for three weeks. He added: "It has to be accepted on his behalf that his offending is aggravated by his previous convictions. Albeit there have been numerous breaches of the notification requirement, it was imposed some 20 years ago. There has been no repetition of any index offence. I have to accept that the controlling and coercive behaviour is an aggravating feature."
Martin admitted to controlling or coercive behaviour, assault and failing to comply with notification requirements. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool, he was sentenced to 27 months in prison and issued a 10-year restraining order. In sentencing, Recorder Richard Pratt KC stated: "She made it plain to you that she did not want to have any form of commitment with you. You refused to accept that and, increasingly, were staying at her house." He added: "This is classic controlling and coercive behaviour and was accompanied, on many occasions, by threats of violence. That was a serious and unpleasant assault, made all the worse because it was in the presence of her daughter."
