When Kirsty Burrows began chatting to athletic, tattooed rugby player Jake Shaw online she had no idea what he was capable of.
The pair started a relationship after chatting on the online dating site Plenty of Fish, and Shaw ended up moving in with Kirsty in St Helens. But what started off as an exciting fling became a draining, toxic eight year relationship marked with frequent abuse and flashpoints of extreme violence.
Shaw is now serving a 10 month prison sentence after being convicted of repeatedly hitting Kirsty over the head with a spade, trying to suffocate her and cutting her with a knife, all in front of their screaming toddler.
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Kirsty shared her story with the ECHO, prompting readers to react with astonishment at the lenient sentence. On the ECHO website, a man using the account Apologies43 said: "What an immature coward of a man. This is someone who no doubt grew up with contempt for other people and no boundaries and is now an out of control adult. Five months and that poor girl will be looking over her shoulder again as the coward is released."
Another user, Drax3, also praised Kirsty for her courage, writing: "I’m so glad you’ve got away, for yours and your children’s sakes. Please don’t ever let him work his way back in again. People like him will end up killing someone someday. Well done for having the courage to see it through."
Shaw, 30, was locked up at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday after admitting two counts of assault causing actual bodily harm. The sentence means he will be automatically freed on licence after five months in prison, including time spent on remand.
Kirsty told the ECHO she has suffered years of abuse after the pair met in 2015. She said: "At first it was alright. We just got on. He played rugby and that and I thought he was good looking, we just had a laugh.
"But I didn't know anything about his past."
Their relationship developed and Shaw moved from his hometown of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire to live with Kirsty in St Helens. She then became pregnant with his child in 2016, which is when his behaviour became increasingly abusive.
It did not take long for Shaw to demonstrate his violent temper, although Kirsty was not the first person she saw him attack. She told the ECHO: "We went on a night out around his and he battered his mum in front of me. He hit her with an iron and a plank of wood, she hit him back. He was arrested but in the end his mum dropped the charges. We split up after that, but he wormed his way back in."
Kirsty described Shaw as an "alcoholic" who was possessive and jealous, and would not tolerate her speaking to other men. She said: "Anything would set him off, but it was worse after he had been drinking or taking drugs. Once he smashed all the windows on my dad's taxi.
"He didn't start off hitting me, it started with him smashing my house up and stuff like that. I wasn't allowed to go out or wear a skirt. Once the gas engineer came round and he threw a glass bottle at his head and chased him off, just because he was talking to me."
However Shaw progressed to being violent towards Kirsty, and on one occasion was arrested by police in Tenerife for attacking her in a hotel room while they were on holiday. Things became more serious in June, 2019, when Shaw launched a vicious attack on Kirsty in public.
She said: "He had been on a night out with his mates and I went to pick him up from the Asda in St Helens. He started saying things and being petty, it sounds stupid but he started chucking sausages at me, he had bought them from the hot counter in Asda.
"I just started driving but he grabbed the steering wheel and crashed my car. When we stopped he rammed my head into the steering wheel, and then got out his side, walked round to the driver's side and ripped the door off the car. He dragged me out and started punching me, then climbed onto the bonnet and put his foot through the window."
Fortunately for Kirsty two witnesses had called the police and Shaw ran off when he heard sirens. He was later arrested and charged with assault and criminal damage, which ended with him spending 18 weeks in prison.
However, after he was released Shaw managed to get back into Kirsty's life and the pair resumed their toxic relationship. Kirsty said: "I was just scared. He told me no-one else would love me and that I was ugly, and that who would want me with two kids. We had children together so it was hard.
"He always said he would do the courses and change but it didn't make a difference."
The most recent assault took place in Kirsty's home on February 21 last year, after an argument about when they should sell a litter of puppies from Kirsty's dog, a Cane Corso named Jet..
It was only when her dog, Jet, launched herself at Shaw that Kirsty was able to flee. She says before she fled she saw Shaw stamping on Jet's neck, leading to the dog suffering from anxiety and "losing a lot of weight".
Speaking about the sentence, Kirsty said: "I don't understand how he has got 10 months for two ABH's. The judge has seen that he has been to prison for assaulting me before. I think he should have got more.
"I'm scared, I have been diagnosed with PTSD and I have bad anxiety."
Kirsty says she intends to refer the case to the Attorney' General's office under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme, which can refer cases to the Court of Appeal if it is believed the sentence is too low.
When asked what she would say to another woman in an abusive relationship, she said: "It's hard. When you're in that situation you can't just say to someone 'leave'. They will leave when they're ready. This time for me I have had lots of support from domestic violence charities and the police, and I have had counselling."
However Kirsty advised anyone with doubts over a partner to make use of Clare's Law, a piece of legislation allowing police to warn anyone in a relationship with someone who has previous convictions for domestic abuse. You can find more about that here.
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