Attempted murder trial of Romford man Anthony Yewman: Victim Jennifer Dalton of Fordingbridge tells court of accused’s tattoos of her
A man accused of trying to murder a New Forest woman has a collection of tattoos of her, including a portrait on his neck, a court heard.
Anthony Yewman (45) has the name of Jennifer Dalton, from Fordingbridge, inscribed several times on his body and has an image of her lips on his head and the words ‘I’m no cheat JD’ on his leg which Ms Dalton said was to prove to her he was not unfaithful.
Yewman is on trial at Southampton Crown Court accused of attempted murder, grievous bodily harm with intent and intentional strangulation – alternative charges which he denies.
Ms Dalton said she had agreed to give evidence against her ex-boyfriend, who is from Romford, Essex, only because: “I wanted him to acknowledge he’d hurt me.”
She sobbed as she added: ”I don’t want someone I love to get in trouble, I don’t want to be here.“
A jury has heard how Yewman, who was in a two-year, on-off relationship with Ms Dalton, allegedly twice strangled her to the point of unconsciousness during an attack at her home on 30th August last year.
In a police interview, Ms Dalton claimed Yewman throttled her once, before resuscitating her and then saying he was going to “finish you off”.
She said he then strangled her until she passed out again, and her life was only saved by her daughter Juliette banging on the front door.
Cross-examined by Rebecca Fairbairn, acting for Yewman, Ms Dalton denied grabbing his throat first.
She said: “I didn’t hurt anybody. I can be annoying, aggravating, but I am not violent like that.”
Ms Dalton admitted their relationship was rocky: “We were two messed-up people together. It was a very toxic situation. It was awful.”
But she added: “I adored him, I absolutely loved him, I still do.”
During her evidence, Yewman sobbed loudly, and the judge eventually decided to adjourn for the morning after he collapsed shouting: “I can’t take this, please!”
Earlier in her police interview, which was shown to the court, Ms Dalton revealed how the defendant is covered in tattoos of her.
She said: “He had lots of my name, he loved me so much.”
Ms Dalton told police that when she met Yewman she had the comic book character Harley Quinn – sidekick and love interest of Batman villain the Joker – on her social media.
She said that after they got together he started painting his face to “be the Joker”.
But she added: “He wasn’t the Joker, anyone can put tattoos on and dye their hair green. “
Ms Dalton said Yewman grew more possessive, saying he once shouted at someone he thought had looked at her at a petrol station.
He also did not like her going out with friends, adding: “I thought it was because he was in love with me but it wasn’t, it was just control.”
In May last year she had called police after he refused to leave her garden after a break-up. She had then moved into a refuge in June to “get away” from him.
But Ms Dalton said Yewman had tracked her down, and would wait in his car outside for her and leave her flowers.
She said on one occasion he had put posters of her face on lampposts in the road the refuge was in and spray painted a wall with the message ‘Joker loves Harley’.
Ms Dalton told officers that she had agreed to let him drive her home two days before the attack because she “felt really alone”.
But she said she had made it clear to him that their relationship was over.
In the trial’s afternoon session, Ms Dalton gave her evidence by video link from a room in the court.
Yewman, wearing a large wooden crucifix around his neck and clutching a copy of the bible, sat sobbing loudly in the dock.
She said she had not encouraged him to get tattoos of her but agreed that she and he had matching ones and she has one of his name.
Shown a photo by Ms Fairbairn of a pillow case with Ms Dalton’s face on it, which belonged to Yewman, she said she referred to it as her “mini-me” and that he kept it in his car.
She agreed the pair of them would accuse each other of cheating, admitting she had sworn at Yewman in a message after he had sent her a photo of a lie-detector test he claimed to have taken to show he was faithful.
She also confirmed that she had sent Yewman the postcode of a gym near the refuge while she was in, asking him to meet her there and signing it off with kisses.
Ms Dalton said: “I wasn’t in my right mind.”
She also admitted spending nights with him while she was in the refuge, including one while in a tent.
Ms Dalton also agreed she sent a message to him on 24th August saying that she had a new partner.
But she added she was telling the truth about the attack saying: “The problem is that he tried to murder me. I am not here as a punishment to anyone, This happened to me.”
The trial continues.
