THIS is the sickening moment a thug headbutted his girlfriend while standing at the bar of a busy pub – leaving her with a black eye.
Lauren Queeley, 33, has bravely opened up about her ordeal after she was attacked by her then-partner Jonathan Landry.
CCTV footage shows Landry slamming his head into Lauren’s in the middle of a packed pub in Porthcawl, south Wales.
The football-style headbutt made an audible crunch and left Lauren with a black eye for weeks.
Lauren had met Landry, now 34, at the beginning of March last year – becoming a couple later that month.
She was in a vulnerable emotional state at the time and believes Landry sensed and exploited this to gain her trust.
He would compliment Lauren’s appearance and tell her he shared her “traumas and vulnerabilities”.
Lauren now suspects that this attempt to forge a “deeper connection” may have been fabricated.
Landry began to tell Lauren she was lucky to be with him and that other women wanted to go out with him.
He also began drinking more – sparking arguments where he would be verbally and physically abusive.
Brave Lauren told WalesOnline: “Every time he got really drunk he would slap me and push me and call me the C-word and ‘rat’.
“It was awful. About six months in I remember thinking: ‘I am so unhappy’.
“I had lost so much weight and he had put a barrier between me and my family members.”
Lauren found the prospect of breaking up daunting and said she was put off by Landry’s habit of apologising.
The abuser would routinely promise not to harm her again – while also insisting his behaviour was not that bad.
He would even say that it was “only a slap” after physically abusing her.
The final straw came on the night of Friday, March 29 this year – just over a year after Lauren and Landry first entered a relationship.
Landry had kept his back to Lauren at another pub where they met her friends – refusing to speak to her or them.
When her friends left, Landry disappeared for 45 minutes and Lauren was left by herself.
She asked where he had been when he returned – only for him to call her a “psycho”.
Lauren could not hear what Landry was saying so leaned in to catch his words.
But the thug then headbutted her with so much force she was almost knocked out.
Lauren was left in “horrific” pain while Landry walked away as if nothing had happened.
Her face began to swell and she developed bruising all over the right side of her face – which lasted for five weeks.
A friend walked Lauren home, where they found Landry waiting outside.
The thug was verbally abusive and demanded to come inside with Lauren.
But she was taking no chances and called cops – who unearthed the pub CCTV of the headbutt.
Lauren had to go to hospital and was unable to open her mouth to eat, drink or speak because her face was so swollen.
She was continuously sick as well as some symptoms of concussion – and feared her eye socket was broken.
Lauren was still afraid of breaking up with Landry and mulled possible excuses she could give friends and family for her injuries.
She told herself that Landry had not meant to hurt her and had her best interests at heart.
The friend who had walked her home rang her and said she could not let him do that to her and had to tell the truth.
Lauren rang her mum the next day – after previously hiding in the bath so she couldn’t see her injuries.
Landry was sentenced at Swansea Magistrates’ Court for one count of actual bodily harm on Tuesday.
Prosecutor Gregory Lloyd read out Lauren’s victim impact statement to the court in which she described having flashbacks of the assault.
In the statement, Lauren said: “I feel angry, upset, and betrayed but more than anything I feel utterly heartbroken.”
John McCarthy, mitigating, said Landry had stopped drinking regularly after realising the dangerous effects of alcohol.
He said: “It is clear in my submission that there is a prospect of rehabilitation. He is very remorseful.”
But district judge Charlotte Murphy told Landry: “The reality of the situation is you are going into custody.”
She added: “I am not satisfied that you have a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”
Murphy said Landry has nine convictions for 14 offences including an assault on a previous partner.
The previous assault resulted in a community order shortly before he met Lauren.
Murphy sentenced Landry to 16 weeks in prison and gave him a restraining order stopping him from contacting Lauren for two years.
Lauren said she did not know the full extent of Landry’s criminal record until after the headbutt.
She is now campaigning for wider awareness of Clare’s Law, which allows women to know if their partner has a history of abuse.
Brave Lauren said: “I did Clare’s Law and I was nearly sick in the room at the things I learned about that man.
“The man I let around my family, who I thought loved me, I let move into my home and make it his own.
Lauren added: “My heart shattered a million times over again.”
Here is the official guidance on Clare's Law:
Clare’s Law, also known as the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) is a police policy giving people the right to know if their current or ex-partner has any previous history of violence or abuse.
The scheme is named after Clare Wood, who was murdered by her abusive ex-boyfriend in 2009.
It was formally rolled out in England and Wales in 2014, following the landmark campaign led by Clare’s father Michael Brown.
Under Clare’s Law, you have the right to:
This is called the ‘right to ask.’ You have a right to ask the police no matter if your enquiry relates to a heterosexual or same-sex relationship, as long as you are aged 16 or older.
You also have the right to ask about a partner regardless of your (or your neighbour, friend or family member’s) gender identity, ethnicity, race, religion or other characteristics.
You also have the ‘right to know’. This means that if police checks show that your current or ex-partner has a record of violent or abusive behaviour, and they believe you may be at risk, they may decide to proactively share that information with you.
If you’re worried that your current or former partner has been abusive or violent in the past, Clare’s Law was created to formally give you the right to find out.
