Anthony Yewman trial: Accused tattooed his face to prove devotion to girlfriend Jennifer Dalton, from Fordingbridge
A MAN accused of strangling his ex-girlfriend twice told a jury at Southampton Crown Court he took a lie detector test to prove he was not cheating on her after she repeatedly accused him of being unfaithful.
Anthony Yewman (45), who styles himself as the Joker from the Batman comics, said former partner Jennifer Dalton, who he calls “his Harley Quinn”, wanted him to take it.
He also said that he had covered himself in tattoos – one featuring her name with the words ‘Love You Forever’ on his face – in a bid to prove his devotion.
Ms Dalton (44) has told a jury that Yewman strangled her twice to the point of unconsciousness after she told him to leave her home in Fordingbridge on 30th August last year.
She claimed he was “obsessed” with her and refused to accept their relationship was over. Ms Dalton said she fled to a domestic abuse refuge in June to get away from him.
But giving evidence at his trial over a charge of attempted murder and two counts of intentional strangulation, the defendant broke down in tears as messages from her on his mobile phone were read out to the court.
In one she told him: “I love you, miss you so much. Wish I was never away from you xxxx.”
In another she wrote: “I don’t want anything else but you in the whole world.”
In other messages she sent him postcodes near the refuge so they could meet up. Yewman said he and Ms Dalton had stayed at his mum’s in Essex between her stays in what he believed was a mental health hospital. He also said he and Ms Dalton had spent time in a tent near the facility.
The former security guard, from Romford in Essex, had earlier told the court he had made a Joker pillowcase with Ms Dalton’s photo on it which he could “cuddle and kiss it goodnight”.
He said he had suffered badly from insomnia and the pillow helped him sleep when they were not together.
Ms Dalton had described their relationship as “toxic” and the court has heard he was arrested in May after refusing to leave her garden.
Yewman claimed that happened because Ms Dalton would “ask me to leave, then ask me to come back”.
He said he did not want to travel all the way back to Essex only to have to return.
The defendant, who has denied all charges, said he took Ms Dalton back home from the refuge on 28th August believing they were going to have a “brand new start.”
He said she had already put her home up for exchange and they spent two days packing ready for a move.
But he claimed that on 30th August she suddenly accused him of cheating on her the night before after drugging her.
He said he told her: “Babe why are you saying all this. I’ve just taken a lie detector. You said you wouldn’t accuse me no more.”
Yewman said Ms Dalton then gave him a “death stare” before grabbing his arm and his throat.
He said he had put both his hands “forward onto her collarbone” then “pushed her back” onto her bed, before holding her down while telling her, “Calm down baby”.
Yewman said he might have held her down “too hard” but denied strangling her twice.
He said she had never lost consciousness and had continued to accuse him of cheating before telling him “Get out, I don’t want you here.”
Ms Dalton told the court last week that after coming round from the first attack, Yewman told her: “Oh you’re alive, I’m going to finish you off.”
She said he then tried to cut himself with a Stanley knife before strangling her again.
But Yewman said he had only touched her once and that he had then tried to kill himself in another bedroom with the knife, but she had told him to stop.
Asked if he had tried to kill her by defence barrister Rebecca Fairbairn, he said: “I don’t want her to be hurt. As long as she is happy and safe that’s all that matters to me.”
Cross examined by prosecutor Matthew Farmer, the defendant denied that he had strangled Ms Dalton with “serious force”.
He said she had not passed out while he was throttling her because “they had been talking the whole time”.
Ms Dalton had claimed that he had resuscitated her by blowing into her mouth but Yewman said he was only “blowing on her because she was hysterical and red like a beetroot”.
He said he had paid £400 for the lie detector and was upset that she was accusing him of cheating again. He denied that he had drugged her the night before.
He said he had not been angry at Ms Dalton but at “myself for holding her down too hard”.
Yewman said he had never acted violently towards anyone, saying: “I’d rather kill myself than hurt anyone else.”
Talking about Ms Dalton, he said: “If she was to ring me now and say she was in trouble I would be on my way in seconds.”
