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My evil ex tortured me but I never reported him, then his gf took her own life – Kiena Dawes’ tragedy brought it back
Zoe Castle wants to encourage other survivors to seek help as soon as possible
HEARING the news of Kiena Dawes’ tragic death, Zoe Castle feels nothing but devastation.
Mum-of-one Kiena, 23, took her own life after suffering years of abuse at the hands of her partner Ryan Wellings.
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On Monday, Wellings, 30, was cleared of manslaughter but convicted of coercive and controlling behaviour and assault. He was jailed for six and a half years.
For Zoe, 25, the news strikes a painfully familiar chord having been a victim of domestic violence herself.
She says: “As I read about Kiena and everything she had endured, I was absolutely devastated.
“Not just for her but for her mum and her family and friends.
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“I saw myself in Kiena. Just like her, I was made to feel like a former shell of myself for years.”
Zoe, who is mum to Lexie, ten, spent two years suffering at the hands of Marc Masterton, 26, of Southsea, Hampshire.
By March 2019 the pastry chef was black and blue, had lost 3st in weight and felt suicidal.
By some miracle she escaped, finding the courage to break free from her abuser.
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“As I read all the things Ryan Wellings did to Kiena during their two-year relationship, it broke my heart. It was exactly what I experienced,” she adds.
“We both faced the same horrors every day. People don’t realise exactly how much abusers, like Marc, and Ryan, get into their victim’s heads.”
Thug CLEARED of manslaughter after ex wrote ‘I was murdered’ before suicide – but is guilty of abuse
Zoe was 18 when she met Masterton in 2017 while studying at catering college and she recalls him being a 'perfect gentleman' back then.
Zoe, whose daughter Lexie was three at the time, says: “At first Marc was incredibly charming. He complimented me constantly and made me feel so special.
“During school years, I’d heard of Marc and we had a bunch of mutual friends.
“We’d bump into each other on the street whilst I was walking home from college."
Soon, they began dating and Zoe felt her new partner welcomed Lexie into his life.
“As Marc had grown up with eight siblings, he was great with Lexie," she says. "He was everything I wanted.”
Zoe fell madly in love and within months, she moved out of her mum’s house and into her own apartment.
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Masterton swiftly moved in, and just that week, he began his horrific campaign of abuse and terror.
Zoe says: “I was asleep when he shook me awake, showing me a photo on Facebook of me and some friends at college which had boys in it.
“Suddenly, a sharp pain hit me in the face. Clutching my cheek, I realised Marc slapped me. I was horrified.
“I burst into tears as Marc panicked and apologised. But after that, my life became hell."
Zoe says Masterton started accusing her of cheating whilst she was at college, and tried to block her from going.
And the attacks at home increased.
“Marc tried to stop me going to college every day," she explains.
“Jealous and paranoid, he began slapping and hitting me again non-stop.
“I was hysterical and kept asking myself if it was normal. But I loved him.
“Marc was going out most nights, getting up to no good with friends before hitting me.”
How Kiena Dawes' 'fairytale' romance turned into a nightmare
999 saying Wellings was refusing to leave their flat, with Kiena complaining he was "terrorising" her.
- Christmas 2021 - During a row Wellings turns his cordless drill on and puts it to Kiena's face, threatening to drill her teeth out.
- January 4 2022 - She calls the National Domestic Abuse Helpline reporting abuse and violence from Wellings.
- March 11 2022 - Kiena is bathing their daughter when Wellings grabs her head and dunks it in the baby bath, threatening to drown her.
- March 15 2022 - The mum makes her first witness statement to police after calling 999, reporting domestic violence. Wellings is arrested on suspicion of assault. However she tells police she does not want to pursue a complaint and takes him back again. Police arrange for a panic alarm to be installed in her flat.
- June 13 2022 - Wellings pushes Kiena over the back of their sofa, grabs and hits her after she answered Wellings back, which "triggers his anger".
- July 4 2022 - Kiena drives into the back of a car, telling paramedics, she forgot she was on the road and was thinking about taking her own life and that she needs help.
- July 11 2022 - Covered in blood, she calls 999 reporting Wellings had "launched" her into a bathroom radiator knocking it from a wall and slammed a door in her face, knocking her out and cutting her head. She is treated in hospital for her injuries. Wellings is arrested and bailed not to contact Kiena.
- July 17 2022 - Wellings calls Kiena in the early hours of the morning with threats. She reports this to police but it is not treated as a breach of bail, leaving her feeling "unsupported".
- July 22 2022 - Kiena is killed on a railway line. She had left her daughter with a friend along with a suicide note saying, "Ryan Wellings killed me".
Soon, Zoe became terrified for her life and her daughter’s. She tried her best to keep her little girl in a separate room but the abuse was rife in the household.
She couldn’t speak to any family or friends, as Masterton had stopped her using her phone, and he watched Zoe's every move.
She says: “I had no access to a phone. I couldn’t wear nice clothes or make my own choices.
“The control over me grew worse, as well as the beatings. One summer in 2018 he pinned me down in a freezing cold bath.
“Later that year, he hit me on the head with a glass bottle. Another time, he cut my finger with a pocketknife.”
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Each time Zoe tried to end it, Masterton found ways to keep her under his control.
“He threatened to have social services take away my daughter,” she says.
“I believed him and I was petrified I’d lose Lexie.”
On one occasion in October 2018, Zoe called the police from a private number, asking for help, admitting she was worried Masterton might kill her.
When officers convinced her to tell them her name they visited her home, but like many domestic violence victims, she was too terrified for herself and Lexie to provide a statement.
“Even though I tried to report it to the police that one time, Marc pleaded with me, promising he’d change,” she remembers.
“For the millionth time, I believed him.
“I was trapped and couldn’t see a way out. I also thought I’d be the one to change him finally.
“I became so mentally unwell and skinny, I hit my breaking point. I knew I wouldn’t survive much longer if I stayed, and my daughter needed me."
I wanted to be sick. I realised it wasn’t just me. After, he’d gone on to terrorise another vulnerable woman. And now she was dead
Zoe Castle
After what Zoe describes as being "two years of hell", she found the courage to end the relationship, changing the locks on her doors to keep Masterton away.
“I told Marc I’d report him to the police if he came back. Scared of being sent to prison, he stayed away," she says.
Months later, the mum packed up her home and relocated to a new area in Havant, Hampshire with Lexie.
Determined to move on with her life, she had no intention of reporting Masterton and refused to think about him again.
She reconnected with her family and friends, and achieved her dream of becoming a pastry chef.
But in March 2023, her life was flipped upside down when an officer knocked at her door, telling her Masterton was on the run.
How you can get help
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – [email protected].
Women’s Aid provides a - available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
Zoe says: “Aged 24, it had been four years. I never thought I’d hear Marc’s name again.
“I realised they must’ve had my details from the police visit years back.
“I begged to know what Marc had done but they couldn’t legally tell me.
“After they left, I typed ‘Marc Masterton’ into Facebook. Immediately, I saw a photo of a young woman, called Chloe Holland.
“She was pretty, with brunette hair and she looked very similar to me. Above her photo was a long post from her mum.
“It stated that Chloe had been controlled and abused by Masterton over the past year, and Chloe had recently reported him.
“But in the middle of the investigation, Chloe took her own life.
“I wanted to be sick. I realised it wasn’t just me. After, he’d gone on to terrorise another vulnerable woman. And now she was dead.
“I broke down.”
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In a flood of tears, Zoe messaged Chloe’s mum, Sharon Holland, she typed: “I’m really sorry, Marc did this to me too.”
Her mum immediately replied, asking if Zoe would be willing to speak to an officer.
Zoe says: “It was the first time I acknowledged I was abused. I wanted to do it for Chloe, so her death wasn’t in vain.
“Marc was a twisted man who would not stop.
“Trembling, I told her I would and Chloe’s case officer rang me the next day."
Zoe handed over photos she'd kept of the injuries inflicted by Masterton during their relationship.
“They were amazed at how much evidence I had. I had photos of my bruises, cut up finger and his controlling messages," she says.
“The case officer even tracked down the bodycam footage of me during the police visit years earlier.
“After that, I learned Chloe had done a video statement but she didn’t live longer to see it go ahead to trial.
“Although I’d been so numb over the past years, hearing about Chloe’s death brought everything up again. It began to haunt me and I developed PTSD.
“I had flashbacks of Marc’s abuse and handed in my resignation at work. A doctor put me onto anti-depressants.
"Looking back I realised I should've gone forward with my initial report. I really regretted it. I kept thinking if I had, maybe Chloe would've been alive. And my daughter and I wouldn't have suffered so much."
In October 2023 at Portsmouth Crown Court, Marc Masterton, 26, formerly of Montgomerie Road, Southsea, was found guilty of controlling and coercive behaviour against Chloe Holland.
The court also acknowledged the domestic abuse he’d put her through, and he was handed a 41 month jail term.
People need to understand the toll abuse and coercive control has on someone's mental health
Zoe Castle
Meanwhile, Chloe's death made Zoe realise she had to push on with her own case against Masterton to protect other women.
Zoe says: "Although I'd never, ever wanted to prosecute Marc, as I worried it'd bring it all up again, Chloe's death changed everything.
"It made me realise the abuse properly for the first time. He had to be stopped."
Seven months later, in May 2024, Zoe faced Masterton at the same court. She says: “He’d been let out of prison for my trial, so he was handcuffed and in prison uniform.
“Looking at him, years later, I surprisingly had no emotions left. He was a stranger.
“Unlike before, I had the control now. I even stared him down until he looked away.
“Thankfully, the jury saw him for the monster that he was."
Masterton was also found guilty of the same charges against Zoe and he was sentenced to a further three years and seven months.
Zoe says: "The judge gave him the max he could’ve got so I was relieved.
“And now he was unable to destroy more women’s lives. I'd worried that he was going to be let off through the investigation and trial. So I was happy and relieved in court that I was believed by the jury and that I finally got justice for myself.
"Although, some time after, I realised how 41 months would go by so fast. I knew deep down one day in the future I'd have to worry about him being back on the streets again.
"I wished he could be behind bars for life."
After both trials, Chloe Holland’s mum Sharon began running a campaign to hold abusers accountable.
She met with councils to get 'Chloe's Law' approved, meaning perpetrators of domestic violence could face manslaughter charges if their victims took their own lives.
Zoe says: “I fully supported Sharon and tried to help her raise awareness as much as I could. I hoped Chloe’s and my case could show how abusers should be held responsible for women’s deaths.”
Hearing what happened to Kiena and how she was subjected to two years of violence, belittling and bullying at the hands of Wellings, 30, has brought back painful memories for Zoe.
“We both faced the same horrors every day," she says. "People don’t realise exactly how much abusers, like Marc, and Ryan, get into their victim’s heads.
“The manipulation is horrendous and very real, and most victims don’t understand that it’s happening. I never did.
“As I read all the things Ryan Wellings did to Kiena during their two-year relationship, it broke my heart. It was exactly what I experienced, and Chloe had too.
“Yet I’d managed to break free, and they were no longer here.
“And now, just like Chloe’s case, the court have again let down Kiena and her family too for his lenient sentence, like Marc's.
“In my view Ryan should’ve got manslaughter. And Marc should’ve got manslaughter for Chloe’s life too.
“It’s absolutely disgusting, how many more deaths need to happen for people to realise their actions are fatal.
“To any other survivors out there, please seek help as soon as possible.”
Sharon Holland says the verdict on Kiena’s case has left her heartbroken.
She adds: “Since the verdict came in I've been crying on and off. I feel so angry.
"Kiena's case echoes Chloe's so much and I'm heartbroken the family haven't received justice for what he did to her.
"Another child has been left without a mother due to abuse.
"There's such a stigma around suicide and what leads a victim to take their life. People need to understand the toll abuse and coercive control has on someone's mental health.
"Reading the case details were shocking. How Ryan tormented, degraded and assaulted her. Chipping away at her self-esteem and confidence until she had nothing left.
"Abusers like Ryan make women feel like they can't think for themselves and that they have no one and nowhere to turn for help.
"The worthlessness they feel causes irreversible psychological damage.
"The jury clearly didn't understand the devastating affects coercive control have on a person's mental health.
"Watching the videos of him laughing after being charged with manslaughter disgusted me.
"And blowing kisses to his girlfriend and smirking in court after the verdict was read. Does he have no remorse for his daughter no longer having a mother? What sort of person does that?
"It's horrific."
Sharon also believes her daughter wasn't given the protection she needed and is calling for urgent action to prevent more deaths.
She adds: "Like Chloe, Kiena was utterly failed by authorities. They should've taken more notice and protected her.
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