Judge refuses leniency on violent bully from Rishton who almost died in motorbike smash
A violent bully who almost died in a motorbike smash has been jailed by a judge in Preston despite appearing in the dock in a wheelchair and medical safety helmet.
Bradley Reed, 27, was critically injured while awaiting sentence for assaulting his ex-partner and behaving in a coercive and controlling manner towards her.
But despite hearing he could have long-term mobility issues Judge Richard Archer decided his injuries should not prevent him paying for his crimes with an immediate prison sentence.
“It is serious offending and it is necessary to impose a serious sentence”, he told Reed as he sent him to jail for a total of three years and eight months.
The city’s Crown Court heard the 27-year-old had pleaded guilty to three offences of assault causing actual bodily harm to his ex-girlfriend and one of subjecting her to a cruel campaign of coercive control during a relationship lasting more than four years.
The young woman had been isolated from her family and friends. Reed smashed her phone multiple times, ordered her not to wear make-up, locked her in her home to prevent her going out and even examined her naked body for any signs she had been having sex with other men.
Because he was her first boyfriend – she was only 16 when they met – she believed this was just normal behaviour. It was only when they broke up after years of abuse and she found someone else that she realised what it was like to be in a truly loving relationship.
In a victim impact statement read out in court she said: “I had no idea the way he treated me was not normal. I thought it was normal when he hit me. I thought it was normal when he locked me in the house.”
She said Reed told her she was “ugly” and wouldn’t find anyone else to like her.
She added: “It’s only since I managed to get away (from him) that I realised what his behaviour was and what he did to me.”
She said she went from being happy to being miserable and felt trapped in a world of abuse. Her confidence sank to zero and she felt she had nothing to live for.
Reed would not allow her to go shopping, apart from a store across from their home where he could watch her from the window.
“I couldn’t make my own choices or decisions and I was in a constant state of paranoia.
“He threatened to throw acid in my face. I eventually managed to go to the police. Now I am away from him my life has changes completely.”
She said her new loving partner showed her “every day what a relationship should be like. I will never let anyone destroy me like that again.”
The first assault was committed in early December 2020 after they had an argument at home. As she went downstairs to leave he ran after her, picked up a mirror and hit her on the head with it, causing a wound.
When she locked herself in a room and tried to stop the bleeding he got in and assaulted her again, punching and kicking her.He later apologised for what he had done, but he refused to allow her to get medical help for her injuries.
He then locked her in the house until the following day.The second assault happened a few days later when, during an argument, he slapped her on the face and spat on her when she fell to the floor.
He shouted at her: “Look at the state of you. You are disgusting, ugly, no-one else will want you.” That same week her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer and Reed refused to allow her to visit her because the family would see the injuries he had inflicted on her.
After a period of non-contact the couple made up and once again a row flared up while they were in bed after he learned she had been to the cinema without him. He called her a “slut” and a “slag”.
Once again he refused to allow her to get medical attention for her injuries.At times she was forced to stand in front of him naked while he examined her body for signs that she had been unfaithful with other men.
Reed was eventually arrested in July 2024. He accepted that the relationship was “toxic.” He agreed there had been arguments but denied any physical violence towards her.
It was said in court that Reed had 15 previous offences on his record including criminal damage involving a previous partner and also charges of battery and ABH.
His defence barrister Julie Taylor said that despite the offences being “unpleasant” the relationship between Reed and his partner had carried on for a number of years.
She told the judge that had he been sentenced for the offences in the early part of their relationship he would have faced a custodial sentence.
But now, she said, there were a number of factors to consider, not least his medical condition.
In December 2024 he had been involved in a “horrific” motorcycle accident from which he wasn’t expected to survive. He suffered a severe brain injury and was in a coma “for some considerable length of time”.
“Although he has recovered he will never be the same”, she said.
He had been back in hospital for surgery earlier this month and since coming out he had needed a wheelchair to aid his recovery.
“What it means is he is a changed person. He was the sort of man who went to the gym. Now he is not able to do any of that. He is restricted to using a wheelchair.”
Ms Taylor added that he was now taking morphine to control the pain. “It is a very, very difficult situation. Going forward he won’t and can’t behave in this way again.
“He is effectively housebound. He lives alone with his dogs. He is isolated. He is now in a wheelchair and he doesn’t know what the future holds.”
She said he had no objection to the court imposing restraining orders to prevent Reed from making any contact with his victim and her new partner.
“He has no desire to contact (them) given his circumstances and what has gone on in his life.”
Judge Archer said Reed, of High Street, Rishton, had committed the offences when, as a teenager, his ex-partner “was deserving a greater degree of protection”.
He said theirs had been a “deeply worrying” relationship in which he indulged in “multi-faceted and long-lasting” control.
He had controlled where she could and could not go, smashed her mobile phones, examined her naked body “from head to toe” when she returned from periods away from him “to see if she had been unfaithful”.
That had been humiliating and degrading, he said.
He had stopped her wearing make-up and would lock her up in the home without any means to get out.
“All of that is serious enough but added to which was a relationship peppered with violence. She thought that the way you behaved towards her was entirely normal.
“Thankfully she has begun to rebuild a worthwhile life – but that is no thanks to you.
“I have to consider the offender before me. It is obvious that you present a very different person today than the person you were when you committed these offences as a result of a traumatic brain injury in an accident on a motorcycle.
“You are in constant pain and you are medicated. All of that is a relevant factor. But it can’t be an excuse or a shield preventing you from getting an appropriate sentence.”
Judge Archer took his physical situation into account by reducing his sentence by six months. But he added a consultant neurosurgeon had said in a report that there was no need for Reed to receive any special treatment – his use of a wheelchair may only be temporary.
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