'My abuser could be released early - it's sheer terror'

A woman whose ex-partner was jailed for attacking and controlling her has warned "there will be a death" if domestic abusers are released from prison early.

Helen Duncanson from North Yorkshire has said she is suffering from "night terrors and panic" after being told her abuser could be eligible for early release.

In January, Michael Boyes, 40, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison but Helen has been told he could be freed in March 2027 after serving only 14 months.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said in a statement: "Release from prison does not mean freedom, and we have designed the toughest licence conditions yet with victim safety at the centre."

Helen told the BBC she met Boyes on a dating app when she was vulnerable, following the death of her mother.

"He was good at first, as they always are," she said.

"But then he started to pick away at my confidence and isolated me from friends and family."

Helen has described Boyes locking her out of her home so that she was forced to sleep in her car and then go to work as though nothing had happened.

"If he got angry, he'd hit me," she said.

"The worst thing was the psychological abuse but the strangling was horrific. If Michael couldn't get his own way, he'd strangle me."

Helen revealed she is now unable to wear anything around her neck and the abuse had left her with complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

At York Crown Court, Boyes pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and controlling and coercive behaviour.

Helen, a student paramedic, said she then had "five or six months of peace" after he was jailed before she heard about plans for the early release of prisoners.

She had initially thought her abuser could be freed early in September 2027 but said she has now been informed it could be brought forward to March.

Helen described feeling "panic" when she was told.

"I genuinely didn't sleep a wink that night because I was having heart palpitations and I couldn't breathe," she said.

"How dare they release these violent individuals? How do you, as a government, have the right to overrule a judge?

"That's my question and no one has been able to answer that."

Domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales, Nicole Jacobs, told the BBC she felt the government had "got it wrong on this" and that victims had not been considered.

"No one should be released unless the kind of risk assessment and planning that includes input from victims is done," she said.

"That's not happening and that is not right or just for victims of domestic abuse."

Helen told the BBC she feared the consequences for all victims of domestic abusers being released early.

"Stop it now before there's a death on your hands, because there absolutely will be, whether that be me or somebody else," she warned.

In a statement, the MoJ said it recognised the "profound and lasting impact of domestic abuse".

It added: "We are also providing a record £550m of funding for victim services including a victims' helpline, specialist domestic abuse support, and rolling out Domestic Abuse Protection Orders to further strengthen protections for victims."

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