Woman beaten up with hammer by ex-partner speaks out about ordeal

Jasmine Molyneux, 26, met her ex-partner, Nathaniel Corkish on Facebook in 2019 through mutual friends. The pair, both from Skelmersdale, met in person after a month after speaking online.

The start of the relationship

At the beginning, Jasmine described their relationship as "normal" and "happy".

In early 2020, Jasmine suffered a mental breakdown, and she wanted to work on herself, so took a step back from the relationship with Nathaniel.

They then got back together in February 2020, and Jasmine explained this is when things started to change.

She said: "There was one day where he caught his dad smoking and he grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pushed him through his flat door.

"He locked it so that his dad couldn't get out and that was the first time I saw what his character was like."

Jasmine met Nathaniel in 2019 (Image: Jasmine Molyneux)

Control and abuse towards Jasmine

During the middle of the pandemic, Nathaniel started to become more aggressive towards Jasmine and more controlling.

He and Jasmine both got Play Stations so that they could still talk. Then, Jasmine bought a new iPhone and Nathaniel hooked up his phone to Jasmine's so that he could track and monitor what apps Jasmine was on when and she would turn her phone off.

Later that year, in October, Jasmine fell pregnant with her son, Eliziah, who is now two, and she thought this would change Nathaniel's behaviour.

"I thought he would step up and be more of a man but he didn't", Jasmine said.

"It made him worse and it was just horrendous.

"He was restricting what I could eat, he would only let me have one meal a day. I would bring food home that the midwives had told me to eat and he would throw it in the bin."

'Life-changing' three-day ordeal

On November 11 last year, at around 11pm, Jasmine and Nathaniel got into an argument and she asked him to leave the house.

After around three hours of persisting, Nathaniel left and Jasmine was putting all of his things outside of the door, and 10 minutes later, after thinking he was gone, Jasmine got her and Eliziah ready to go to her grandparent's house, fearing that Nathaniel would come back.

Nathaniel, who was still outside sat in his car, pushed Jasmine back in through the door and locked it, pleading for her not to go to her grandparent's house because he "didn't want to be arrested".

He then grabbed Jasmine by her neck and strangled her at the bottom of the stairs, and while he was strangling her he whispered in her ear "sshh everything is going to be ok, I love you so much."

Nathaniel then dragged Jasmine to the middle of the stairs by her neck and pulled out a hammer, which he used to hit Jasmine's face three times and the back of her head two times.

Jasmine when she was found by police (Image: Lancashire Police)

Jasmine, who was fully aware of what was going on at this point, couldn't see anything as her eyes had swollen up so much from being hit with the hammer. She was then thrown onto the bed and Nathaniel continued to strangle Jasmine until she lost consciousness.

She said: "He let go because I think he thought he'd killed me so I just took a massive gasp which was so loud."

During the whole attack, Jasmine's son was in his pram downstairs.

Over the next two days, Jasmine was going in and out of consciousness and stumbled to the toilet, where she managed to open one of her eyes to notice all of the carpets had been ripped out on the landing and stairs, which were covered in Jasmine's blood, and burnt in the back garden by Nathaniel.

Nathaniel told Jasmine he was going to take Eliziah to his auntie's house. When they left Jasmine thought he had gone, so she opened the front door to ask her neighbour for help while Nathaniel was sitting in his car watching her.

Jasmine then pleaded for Nathaniel to call an ambulance, as she was losing a lot of blood, and he faked calling 999 and said to Jasmine she wasn't "severe enough" to go to hospital.

Jasmine suffered severe injuries to her head, brain and skull (Image: Lancashire Police)

'I didn't think I was going to be found'

Over the next 12 hours, Nathaniel put Jasmine in the back of his car, and tied a black towel and blood-stained t-shirt to each window so she wasn't in visible view of anyone.

He drove past four hospitals, and it wasn't until Jasmine's grandparents arrived at her house to notice she wasn't there, they rang the police, who began their search for Nathaniel's car.

Jasmine said: "Nathaniel was using my bank card to buy food for him and Eliziah but not for me.

"I think he was going to New Brighton to the Mersey to throw me in because we'd been there for a day out previously."

Merseyside Police finally located Nathaniel, one-year-old Eliziah and a badly injured Jasmine, in Wallasey and she was taken to Arrowe Park Hospital where she was put in an induced coma for four days.

She was then transferred to Walton Centre due to her severe head injuries. She spent four and a half weeks in hospital all together.

Jasmine was treated for head injuries and fractures including a shattered eye socket, a detached retina, cataract, and severe bruising.

Jasmine and her new partner Lewis (Image: Jasmine Molyneux)

Raising awareness

Jasmine is now with a new partner, Lewis, who she said treats her "like a princess".

She said: "I've never been treated like this before. It feels good and it feels right.

"I would like to say to other women don't settle for second best.

"If someone says to you 'don't cheat on me', or if they say anything about what perfume you're wearing or what you can wear, you need to step away."

Cornish, of Skelmersdale, pleaded guilty in December last year at Preston Crown Court to causing grievous bodily harm, kidnap and non-fatal strangulation.

In March, he was sentenced to eight years in prison.

If you are a victim of domestic abuse and need to talk to someone, call Victim Support's free and 24-hour Supportline on 08 08 16 89 111 or start a live chat any time.