A man who terrorised his wife with a knife, hit a male family member over the head with a claw hammer and threatened to burn down his house has been jailed for over three years.
Christopher Taylor, 59, from Brompton, near Northallerton, left his family “emotionally crushed” following a “litany of utterly vile behaviour” which included “controlling and manipulating” his beleaguered wife, holding a knife to her throat and bludgeoning a male family member with a hammer which rendered him temporarily unconscious, York Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Anne Richardson said that Taylor and his wife had been married for 34 years, but the relationship had been dogged by his drink-fuelled tyranny towards her.
She had left him on multiple occasions, but she came back for the good of her family, added Ms Richardson.
Matters came to a head in April this year when Taylor told her she couldn’t go to her daughter’s wedding, at which point she left him for good.
She called in police but didn’t want to make a statement at the time, telling officers she just wanted Taylor to leave her alone and move on with his life.
However, she received a message from her husband while police were present, in which Taylor warned her: “Don’t push me lady. On the edge.”
She said that Taylor had been controlling and abusive “almost from the beginning of the relationship” and she was always “walking on eggshells”.
He would become angry if she wore perfume, falsely accused her of infidelity and if she were ever late returning home, he would tell her he had “sorted the dogs”.
He would turn up at her workplace and sit outside, wouldn’t allow her to have a passcode on her phone and “tried to control” virtually every aspect of her life.
“She was fearful he would kill her,” said Ms Richardson.
He would lock her out of their home and the bathroom and on one occasion walked around the house with a meat cleaver.
On another occasion, he disabled her car so that she couldn’t leave and threatened another female family member with a hammer which he swung at her. He also threatened to harm the family’s pet dogs.
In one particularly chilling incident, he sent his wife a photo of a knife covered in tomato sauce to make it look like it was dripping in blood. On other occasions, he took her car so she couldn’t use it and once held a knife to her throat.
The physical abuse included “grabbing and pushing her, squeezing her toes and ankles and wielding knives in her presence”.
In December 2024, Taylor, again in drink, struck a male family member on the side of the head with a claw hammer after the victim had confronted him about opening a private letter.
The victim was rendered temporarily unconscious and was taken to hospital after suffering from nausea caused by the hammer blow.
In May this year, a female family member was helping police with their enquiries when she received a notification from her Ring Doorbell app which showed live footage of Taylor turning up on her doorstep in Northallerton carrying a knife.
She later received a voicemail message from Taylor who told her he was going to “burn your house down”.
Then, on the same day, he sent the male family member a similar message, threatening to destroy his home, warning him: “I’ll burn the fxxxxxx house to the ground.”
He was arrested later that same day, May 1, and brought in for questioning.
Ms Richardson said that Taylor had used a “multiplicity of methods” to control and coerce his wife, causing her to fear violence “on many occasions”, which had a “very serious” effect on her.
She said that Taylor’s “litany of behaviour” left the victims “petrified, traumatised” and wracked with anxiety.
She said the victims had told how Taylor’s “anger and actions and unpredictability have caused them to feel petrified he will harm them or kill them”.
His wife was now looking for a new home and was already dreading the day that Taylor would be released from the inevitable prison sentence, added Ms Richardson.
Taylor, of Long Lane, was initially charged with using controlling or coercive behaviour against his wife between December 2015 and May this year, but he disputed the indictment period.
He ultimately admitted using controlling behaviour over a five-month period starting in 2025. The prosecution accepted this basis of plea.
He also admitted assaulting the male family member, causing actual bodily harm, in the hammer attack, and pleaded guilty to two counts of threatening to damage or destroy property, namely the homes of the male victim and the other female family member.
He also admitted carrying a knife at the female victim’s home in Northallerton.
He appeared for sentence via video link on Friday, August 7, after being remanded in custody.
Ms Richardson said that Taylor had one previous conviction for assaulting an emergency worker, for which he received a conditional discharge last year.
Defence barrister Elisha Marsay conceded that Taylor’s behaviour against the three victims had been “utterly vile”.
She said that Taylor had always been a working man who had “led a life of public service predominantly, up until very recently”. He had since lost his job.
Judge Simon Hickey told Taylor that his “vile, alcohol-fuelled” behaviour had “destroyed a 34-year marriage from very early on”.
He added: “This is a sad, tragic case, but one of your own making. You (otherwise) led an industrious life, always worked and you have lost a job that you very much held dear.”
He noted the “harrowing” testimonies from the victims who had been “emotionally crushed”.
Taylor was jailed for three years and four months and made subject to a restraining order banning him from contacting the three victims and going to any property or workplace where he knew them to be.
The judge made the order for an indefinite period or “until further order”, which effectively means that Taylor is banned from contacting and approaching the victims for life.
Mr Hickey said he had made this order “given the fear (the victims) still live in”.
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