Man jailed for domestic abuse handed extra sentence for contempt of court
Ryan Wellings jailed for contempt of court after discussing trial proceedings
A “monster” who subjected his vulnerable partner to assault and years of domestic abuse, but was cleared of her manslaughter, has received an additional seven months in jail for contempt of court.
In January 2025, Ryan Wellings, 31, was cleared of the unlawful killing of Kiena Dawes, 23, who left a suicide note calling her partner a “monster” who had “killed me”.
The hairdresser from Fleetwood, Lancashire, left the note and their young daughter with a friend before killing herself on a railway line on July 22 2022.
Wellings was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison after he was convicted by a jury at Preston Crown Court of assault and coercive and controlling behaviour over a two-year period.
On Friday, he admitted contempt of court by breaching orders made by the judge during the trial that he must not discuss the ongoing proceedings while he gave evidence.
It emerged that Wellings ignored the directions as he went on to discuss the case in eight telephone calls from prison with his partner, Lisa Croft, 29, and his mother Lisa Green, 53, between December 17 2024 and January 2 2025.
Prosecutor Adam Birkby said mother-of-two Croft was present in court for the judicial warnings and that Green was a potential defence witness who knew she could not discuss the trial while it was ongoing.
He told Preston Crown Court: “The Crown’s case is that during the telephone calls the defendants engaged in witness coaching, and that their joint intention was to influence and thereby improve both the content of the evidence given by Ryan Wellings and the manner in which he gave it.
“This was in flagrant breach of the clear order of the court.”
In one phone call, Croft told Wellings: “Some advice to listen, so take it in. Say how sorry you was and how you regret some of your action.
“You can show emotion. If you do feel like you’re gonna cry then let it out.”
Days later, Wellings wept when giving evidence about hearing of the death of Kiena Dawes, said the prosecutor.
In another exchange, Croft told Wellings: “I’ve got some more pointers to get across to ya. When kick offs happened express whether it was just you or both of you, and things that blew up worse because of her, reason being her mental health and you found it difficult to deal with.”
Croft also advised: “Don’t forget to keep mentioning self-defence. Get it in there.”
Mr Birkby said: “It is submitted that the breach of the court’s order itself and, more significantly, the coaching of Ryan Wellings in order to influence and thereby improve both the content of his evidence and the manner in which he gave it, represent a significant interference with the fairness and integrity of the trial.
“Witness coaching is, by its very nature, an egregious contravention of a fundamental principle of criminal proceedings.”
Croft and Green also pleaded guilty to contempt of court.
Judge Robert Altham, the Honorary Recorder of Preston who presided over Wellings’s trial, told the defendants: “This conduct on the part of all three of you represents a serious interference with the fairness and integrity of the trial process in an important and serious case concerning the loss of life.”
He said though it could not be concluded that the “ultimate outcome” of the trial was affected.
Wellings, who was due to be released as early as next June, received a seven-month jail sentence to run consecutively to his ongoing term of imprisonment.
Croft and Green were sentenced to six months in jail, suspended for 20 months.
Green and Wellings’s father, Michael Wellings, 51, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to kidnapping their granddaughter weeks after the death of Ms Dawes.
The youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was “snatched from the street” before the pair drove off a short distance and Green dialled 999 to say they had to “snatch her back” because they claimed the Dawes family had refused to return her and that their son had parental responsibility.
Police attended and the defendants were arrested.
Sentencing them both to nine months in prison, suspended for 20 months, Judge Altham said: “You didn’t think of your granddaughter, you thought only of yourselves.”