A 34-year-old man from Newport terrorised his partner using a crude flame-throwing device fashioned from a Lynx deodorant can and a lighter. Stefan Ramsden subjected his long-term girlfriend to abusive behaviour spanning 17 months during a three-year relationship. He regularly assaulted, degraded and humiliated her throughout this period.
The defendant has previously been convicted of violence against women, receiving a three-year prison sentence in 2020 for a serious attack on a former partner. On that occasion, he threatened to blind the victim, held a firearm to her face and promised to kill both her mother and grandmother.
Leah Pollard, for the prosecution, outlined how Ramsden’s latest pattern of offending began in December 2023 when he hauled his victim across a room following a works Christmas party. He subsequently created what was described as a blowtorch by directing the aerosol can towards a lighter flame. Miss Pollard told Cardiff Crown Court that the victim could feel the heat of the fire reaching her face. She was extremely distressed and paralysed with terror. Ramsden then destroyed her flat during an attack lasting 40 minutes. The woman filmed the aftermath of the destruction, a recording played to the court in which she stated she believed she would die. Ramsden subsequently contacted her while weeping and confessed he carried a monster within him.
Further unpredictable bursts of violence and mistreatment followed. The defendant struck her and while driving them along the M4 motorway between Newport and Chepstow for almost 60 minutes, threatened to kill them both and pledged to wreck his vehicle. He informed her that acquaintances regarded her in a derogatory manner.
When she eventually contacted police, Ramsden was apprehended and held in custody. Miss Pollard explained that while incarcerated, he composed correspondence addressed to their pet dog Otis knowing the woman would see it. The letter requested that Otis inform Mummy that Ramsden deserved better than imprisonment, an action interpreted as manipulation intended to encourage her to withdraw the charges.
Ramsden pleaded guilty to controlling and coercive conduct, threats to kill and witness intimidation. The offences constituted a breach of a suspended sentence imposed in 2023 for supplying nitrous oxide, commonly called laughing gas. His defence counsel Clare Wilks sought appropriate credit for her client’s guilty pleas and submitted that he had demonstrated authentic regret towards his victim. Mr Justice Paul Hobson told Ramsden he was completely consumed by obsession for the complainant and noted her description of constantly having to avoid provoking his anger.
Ramsden received a 10-year sentence comprising five years imprisonment followed by a five-year extended licence period. He was also subject to an indefinite restraining order prohibiting any contact with the woman.