
EXCLUSIVE My evil boyfriend kept me awake for four days, hit me and drove me into traffic. He even faked letters from social services accusing me of neglect. Now he's being released just 10 months into his sentence and I'm terrified for my children's safety
A mother-of-three has slammed the early release of her former abusive partner who controlled her life for 14 years.
Evil Kevin Jones, 43, isolated Lucy Buxton from friends and family, banned her from wearing revealing clothes, checked her phone constantly and even stopped her from getting her hair cut.
In March last year, after he drove their car into a main road, barely missing oncoming traffic, he was jailed for 3.5 years for driving a motor vehicle dangerously and harassment to put a person in fear of violence. He was also handed a life-long restraining order.
Yet, the thug will be released in August this year. Just ten months into his sentence.
Lucy, 35, from Derby, is terrified Jones will seek revenge and hurt her and their children.
With the Labour government's plans to free criminals recalled to custody after 28 days to prevent overcrowding prisons, Lucy feels completely let down.
She says: 'When I got to call a few weeks ago from the probation service, telling me Kev was due to be released early, I burst into tears.
'Ten months for a three -and- a- half year sentence? Is that all I was worth?
'I've had no time to heal, no time to recover and barely enough time to start enjoying my life without looking over my shoulder.
'Kevin abused me for 14 years and me and my children get just 10 months of freedom.
'He comes out of prison and we go back into one.
'The fear he will find us and hurt us is crippling.
'Where are our rights, our freedom? He can't be rehabilitated after that time, if ever.
'Hearing of Labour's plans makes me sick to my stomach.
'It's no deterrent for dangerous offenders like Kevin.
'Before we know it, abusers won't be monitored at all, meaning we'll be at extreme risk.
'It'll mean more women will die.
'The government will have blood on their hands.
'I'm disgusted. There's no justice.'
Lucy, started dating Jones in 2010 after meeting during a night out.
A few months later, they were living together.
Almost straight away, he began to control her.
Used to going out partying with her friends, Jones soon insisted on joining them.
Lucy says: 'One morning, I noticed some money missing.
'£100 had been withdrawn from my account.
'When I confronted Kev, he told me "We're together now, it's our money".
'My first serious relationship, I thought it was normal.'
Yet, the following year, when Lucy fell pregnant, Jones started drinking heavily.
One night, at seven months gone, he returned home, drunk.
When Lucy complained, he balled his hand into a fist.
She remembers: 'I was terrified and cowered in the corner as he shouted at me.'
Then, on New Year's Eve that year, Jones flipped again after Lucy complained he'd forgotten to put the bedding in the dryer.
He lunged at her and punched a kitchen cupboard above her head.
After their eldest son arrived in February 2012, Jones didn't lift a finger.
Instead, he spent most nights in the pub.
Lucy says: 'While I did all the childcare, he hated the attention I gave our baby.
'And when our second son was born in January 2013, if I asked him for help, he'd tell me to 'Get on with it'.'
Soon after Lucy discovered Jones had a gambling problem.
He'd whittled hundreds of pounds away on slot machines and horse races.
Then Jones began dictating what Lucy wore.
She explains: 'If anything was too revealing he'd question it. Tell me I looked silly.
'Soon after, he began checking my phone messages daily.
'Made me sit for hours while he read each one out loud.
'It was exhausting.'
When their youngest boy was born in 2018, Lucy claims she was barely surviving.
Many times, she attempted to end the relationship.
She would escape to her mum's, who lived down the street.
Yet Jones always wormed his way back in.
Lucy says: 'One day, I told him to leave.
'He did, but he snuck back into the house in the middle of night, woke me up and said 'Just remember I can get to you anywhere'.
'His threats horrified me. I didn't feel safe in my own home.
'After that, my family begged me to leave.
'But I'd made peace with myself that the only way I'd get out of the relationship was if one of us died.'
Months later, Lucy received an email supposedly from social services, telling her she was being investigated for child neglect.
But the letter was full of spelling and grammatical errors.
Lucy says: 'I quickly realised it was fake.
'Knew Kev was behind it.'
Eventually, Jones was in so much debt, Lucy struggled to pay the rent each month.
Three years passed and in July 2021, Lucy's sister gifted her a birthday voucher to get her hair done.
She remembers: 'Back at home, after cutting it just a few inches, Kev went berserk.
'Told me I looked ridiculous and didn't talk to me for days.
'Made any confidence I had left, vanish.'
Then, in September 2023, while their kids were at school, Lucy found drugs in her bedroom.
As she went to flush them down the toilet, Jones appeared.
She remembers: 'He pinned me against the wall and kneed me in the chest, winding me.
'He shouted at me to drop it. Unable to breathe, I did.
'That night, Kev refused to let me sleep.
'Pestered me to give him money.
'For four days, he kept me awake.
'Even threatened to get me sectioned.
'By this point, I was so sleep deprived I could barely function.'
The following year, in March 2024, Jones returned from an all-night bender.
After he accused Lucy of cheating, he locked the doors, putting the keys in his pocket.
For hours, while the kids tried to sleep, he ranted, checked Lucy's phone and refused to let her sleep.
The next morning, after dropping the boys at school, Jones drove at 100mph back home.
Lucy recalls: 'When I begged him to slow down, he punched me in the face.
'Started ranting that I was having an affair.
'Moments later, he pulled up on pavement and I fled.
'Kev gave chase and grabbed me by my hood.
'He threatened to kidnap our boys and that I'd never see them again.'
Terrified, Lucy agreed to get back into the car.
Minutes later they arrived home.
Yet he teared away in the car again.
Lucy says: 'I went out the front door and heard tyres screeching.
'Suddenly, Kev appeared and drove the car straight at me.
'I froze as he stopped, inches from my legs.'
Then Jones ordered Lucy back into the car.
She says: 'I was hysterical and asked Kev 'When will it end?'
'He laughed manically and replied 'When you're not alive anymore'.
'At that point, I knew he'd kill me.'
Moments later, Jones sped towards a busy dual carriageway into traffic.
Miraculously, nothing hit them.
Coming to a halt, Jones threw Lucy's phone and keys at her.
She managed to flee and called her mum, before collecting her sons from school.
Lucy called the police and Jones was arrested and remanded.
She says: 'Before I gave my statement at the station, I told the officer 'Let me say sorry to him'.
'After all he'd done, he still had a hold over me.'
In October 2024, Jones pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle dangerously and harassment to put a person in fear of violence.
With her hair cut into a bob, Lucy bravely attended his sentencing.
She says: 'I wanted him to know he didn't control me anymore.
'I read my victim impact statement, bravely staring him down.
'Finally have my voice and freedom back and I'm going to use it to help others.
'With those who are still in domestic abuse relationships, the new plans won't give them any confidence to come forward and report their abusers.
'They already feel like there's no help and Labour are cutting off any shred of hope they may have had.
'It's beyond comprehension and makes me so sad at the state of our justice system.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Times
13 minutes ago
- Times
Public will pay price for police funding squeeze, say chiefs
Officer numbers will have to be cut as the public 'pay the price' for the lack of funding for policing in the spending review, police chiefs said. Sir Keir Starmer's pledge to restore neighbourhood policing is 'some way off' they said, after Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, announced that police funding would increase by £2.1 billion between 2026 and 2029 — an average real-terms increase of 1.7 per cent. The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said this would leave a shortfall of £1.2 billion and lead to forces 'cutting headcount to balance the books'. The Police Federation said the public would 'pay the price', while the Police Superintendents' Association (PSA) accused the government of a 'shameful abandonment of the police service'. Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, is understood to be planning to review police funding in the autumn, when she will pressure the chancellor for extra money to meet Labour's pledge to recruit 13,000 police officers. Police chiefs said that without extra funding, the money would have to be found through rises in council tax or cuts to other policing services. Gavin Stephens, the NPCC chairman, said the funding rise would 'cover little more than annual inflationary pay increases' and that progress on the prime minister's key missions, such as halving violence against women and cutting knife crime, would be slower. Sir Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said police numbers would fall, adding: 'I remain concerned that this spending review could result in insufficient funding for the Met and fewer police officers.' Starmer's promise to recruit 13,000 neighbourhood police officers was one of Labour's flagship policies in last year's general election. Paul Sanford, chairman of the NPCC's finance co-ordination committee, said: 'While we are looking at a 1.7 per cent increase, once pay is accounted for, once our non-pay pressures are accounted for, we think it will be incredibly difficult for the commitment to deliver the additional 13,000 neighbourhood police officers within this funding envelope. 'We've made some progress. We have a good 3,000 already recruited but based on this settlement, that does look a real challenge for us … Certainly we are going to be some way off unless some significant levers are going to be pulled. Any further progress towards the 13,000 without new money would only come from making savings in our budgets.' Sanford said it was impossible to predict what the neighbourhood policing shortfall would be. Labour's initial announcement said the 13,000 officers would comprise 4,000 police community service officers, 3,000 special constables, 3,000 existing officers and 3,000 new police constables. Stephens added that 'the size and shape of the police workforce will inevitably have to change'. He said: 'The amount falls far short of what is required to fund the government's ambitions and maintain our existing workforce. This is against a backdrop of increasing crime rates, with new and escalating threats from organised crime and hostile states, and more offenders being managed in the community as a result of an overstretched criminal justice system.' Sanford said the overhaul of sentencing laws, which will scrap short prison sentences and release some prisoners after they have served just a third of their sentence, would pile further pressure on police budgets. Additional investment in the Probation Service to monitor offenders would take time to phase in, he said, leaving police to deal with the consequences of more criminals on the streets. 'There isn't any additional money to deal with that. This will increase the workload of police officers.' Tiff Lynch, acting national chairwoman of the Police Federation, accused the chancellor of failing to listen to police officers or the home secretary. She said: 'This spending review should have been a turning point after 15 years of austerity that has left policing, and police officers, broken. Instead, the cuts will continue — and it's the public who will pay the price. 'As rank-and-file officers kit up for night duty this evening, they'll do so knowing exactly where they stand in the government's priorities. It is beyond insulting for cabinet ministers to call on police to 'do their bit' when officers are overworked, underpaid and under threat like never before. 'They are facing blades and bricks, managing mental health crises, while battling to protect their own, and carrying the weight of trauma and financial stress home with them every day.' Nick Smart, president of the PSA, said it was a 'shameful abandonment of the police service' and warned that the government was failing in its first duty of keeping public safe. He said: 'Today's funding announcement is a huge blow to the police service, which has once again been placed at the bottom of the government's list of priorities. It is the first duty of government to keep its citizens safe, yet today we see no evidence of a commitment to doing this. 'Many of the government's election pledges centred around a commitment to 'safer streets', promising the public that it would meet ambitious targets such as halving knife crime. Yet the lack of investment announced today means we will continue to struggle to deliver the basics, to maintain officer numbers, cover inflationary costs, cover pay awards and function as we are, let alone move forward on new public safety and transformation initiatives.'


Sky News
13 minutes ago
- Sky News
Ballymena riots latest: Fire started 'after vandalism' at leisure centre as water cannon deployed in third night of disorder in N Ireland
Disorder has broken out in Northern Ireland for the third successive night, after police said people are "waking up with genuine fear for their lives" following two nights of violence in Ballymena and other areas. Follow the latest.


BBC News
25 minutes ago
- BBC News
Girl ,16, charged with assaulting police officer amid Salford disorder
A 16-year-old girl has been charged with assaulting a police officer amid disorder in Salford that saw cars set on fire and bricks being hurled. About 50 to 60 people gathered during the disturbance in the city's Lower Broughton Road at about 13:30 BST, Greater Manchester Police said. Two men have been arrested on suspicion of possessing a weapon, while two others were held on suspicion of drugs offences and theft. The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with assaulting an emergency worker and has been bailed to appear in court at a later date. The force said cars were stolen and set on fire, motorbikes were being ridden erratically and bricks were thrown at officers, while wheelie bins and cars were used to block off the road. A police vehicle's windscreen was smashed, it added. A video shared on social media appeared to show a Fiat 500 reversing at speed along the road with its boot open, as another car followed Marcus Noden said there had been "no further incidents" since the unrest earlier but officers had "robust plans in place should any further incidents arise in the area". He added: "We are aware of speculation online that this incident is linked to immigration. This is categorically incorrect."This sort of behaviour will not be tolerated and we took robust and appropriate action."A large number of officers will be remaining in the area overnight as a precaution."Those arrested include: A boy, 16, has been arrested on suspicion of theft and public order offences A man in his 30s has been arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly and drug possessionTwo more men - aged 18 and 19 - were arrested on suspicion of possessing a weaponA dispersal order remains in place until 14:00 BST on Thursday. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.