Abusive bricklayer, 27, who terrorised mother of his three children, 24, into letting him move back in after she tried to end their relationship is jailed for 14 months for breaching restraining order
- Ryan Rochester, 27, had been banned from contacting Shannon Grace, 24
- Ms Grace allowed Rochester to return to her home out of fear of his temper
- A court heard Rochester became violent as a result of his prodigious drug habit
- He was jailed for 14 months after admitting breaching a restraining order
An abusive boyfriend who terrorised the long-suffering mother of his three children into taking him back after she tried to end their toxic relationship was behind bars today.
Ryan Rochester, 27, had been banned from contacting Shannon Grace under the terms of a restraining order but he moved back in with her.
Miss Grace, 24, only ‘acquiesced’ to the arrangement as she was fearful of his drug-fuelled rages but she called in police when bricklayer Rochester vanished on an all-night bender only to do the ‘walk of shame’ the next morning.
Ryan Rochester, pictured, was jailed for 14 months by Bolton Crown Court after he admitted four counts of breaching a barring order which prohibited from contacting Shannon Grace
The court heard Rochester pressurised his girlfriend Shannon Grace to let her back into her home despite being subject to a barring order
In a statement, Ms Grace said: ‘I am extremely depressed and I feel like I am stuck in a rut and I cannot get away from Ryan. I don’t want a relationship with him – I allowed him back out of fear more than anything else’
He turned up on the school run and kept watch on Miss Grace as she dropped off the youngsters for lessons.
In a statement Miss Grace, of Wigan, Greater Manchester who has a fourth child from another relationship said: ‘I am extremely depressed and I feel like I am stuck in a rut and I cannot get away from Ryan. I don’t want a relationship with him – I allowed him back out of fear more than anything else.’
At Bolton Crown Court, Rochester, from the Scholes area of Wigan admitted four charges of breaching a restraining order and was jailed for 14 months.
The court heard the pair had been in a relationship for six years but split in 2020 over Rochester’s abuse of cocaine and cannabis.
Miss Grace moved into a women’s refuge after Rochester broke into her home and threatened to kill her over the split – but she later agreed to give their relationship another go.
In April last year she obtained a two year restraining order against him after he attacked her outside their home during a row.
Ms Grace said even when Rochester was not taking drugs he was ‘constantly argumentative’
Mr Craig MacGregor prosecuting said the latest offences occurred after Rochester moved back in with Miss Grace in breach of the order December last year.
He said: ‘She says she was fearful of the defendant and was scared of him and did not want to argue with him and she said he could stay to avoid arguments.
‘But from that point she said her relationship with him was horrible and awful. Even when he was not taking drugs he was constantly argumentative if she had not washed his clothes or cleaned up properly.
‘She told him on numerous occasions she did not want him at the house if he had been taking drugs but he kept returning. Problems came to a head when he didn’t come home because he was doing drugs, they had an argument on the morning and she went to school early with the children.
‘Whilst at the school gates he was there some distance away but making sure she knew he was watching her. She then rang the police. Throughout this awful relationship he has been messaging her, living with her and texting her.
‘She has perhaps been her own worst enemy in allowing him back into her life but this was a persistent breach of the restraining order and there was harm caused. Miss Grace was particularly vulnerable if someone has been in a women’s refuge already so you can see how easy it was for her to be picked off.’
Rochester who had domestic issues with two other former partners had previous convictions for threatening behaviour towards Miss Grace and using violence to gain entry to her home and in 2020 was given a suspended sentence. The following year he was given 16 weeks jail for battery upon Miss Grace. He had a total of 21 offences on his record.
In mitigation defence counsel Mr Daniel Calder said: ‘He grew up in a household where he was both the perpetrator and the victim of domestic violence and it is suggested there is unresolved trauma which in adulthood has manifested itself in this pattern of offending.
‘He has never received professional assistance for his childhood experiences and has made a number of poor decisions to manage and regulate his emotions with alcohol and illegal drugs. A violent upbringing and long-standing substance abuse is a familiar and dangerous cocktail but perhaps gives an explanation for what has happened.
He added: ‘There is not a particularly clear account about how they got back together but there was a degree of acquiescence and the defendant lived with the assent of the complainant for some time. He does not intend any further contact with her and looking for a fresh start.’
Sentencing Judge Tom Gilbart told Rochester: ‘She acquiesced to living with you but she was scared of confronting you about it could not argue with you about it. You knew full well that contact with her was not allowed. It is quite mystifying that a father can behave like this towards the mother of his children.’
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