A young woman has spoken out about the horrific abuse she endured at the hands of her ex in the hope it will inspire other victims to leave their partners.
Chloe Turner fled her boyfriend LJ Bluestar-Hill after he attacked her on a regular basis, once breaking her arm with a wooden stool leg.
He also whipped the 20-year-old with a belt, cut her with a knife, bit her and slapped and punched her.
The most severe violence came after the couple, who lived in Bevan Avenue, Barking, lost their baby Alexis to cot death in December when she was just nine weeks old.
Last month LJ, who changed his name from Luke Hill, was jailed for nine years and four months for the abuse he inflicted.
Chloe, who had dropped to five stone by the time she fled in February, said: “It was so frightening, but I left him and now he’s prison.
“I want other people like me to hear this and realise that you don’t have to put up with it.”
She said her former boyfriend was charming when they first got together in 2011. “Everything was fine for a while but then he started getting jealous about my ex, and would get really mad. It started with the odd slap and then got worse and worse.
“Once he hit me with a belt for five or ten minutes.”
Before long, LJ, who had stopped Chloe from seeing her family and friends, began using knives and razor blades to cut her legs.
“He wouldn’t cut really deep, but enough to make it bleed,” she explained. “I never went to hospital or anything after. I’ve got scars now.”
Asked why she did not leave him, Chloe replied: “Many reasons. I was scared, I thought he’d change and something stupid in my head was telling me I loved him.”
Towards the end of their relationship, as Chloe was dealing with the devastation of losing their daughter, the 23-year-old viciously beat her with a wooden stool leg.
“He hit me so hard he broke my arm, although I didn’t realise until I saw a doctor after I left him, about two weeks later.
“He was asleep then and I ran for my life to my mum’s house, just ten minutes away. I hadn’t seen her for over a year and she was so shocked at the state I was in. I remember saying: “It will get better, I just need your help, can I come back?’”
Chloe’s family reported LJ and he pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and two charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The former Jo Richardson pupil is now trying to rebuild her life. “What happened won’t go away, and I do often feel down,” she said.
“But things are getting easier. I’ve met a new man who’s lovely and we’re taking it really slowly. I’m going on dates for the first time. I’ve also got a job interview coming up. I’ve just got to take things step by step.”
Chloe thanked the police for their support. “They were just amazing,” she said, “I don’t know what I would have done without them.”
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