Kiena Dawes left a suicide note describing her partner Ryan Wellings as a ‘monster’ who had ‘killed me’
08:24, 13 May 2026Updated 08:27, 13 May 2026
Kiena Dawes
A ‘monster’ who subjected his vulnerable partner to years of domestic abuse and assault has been handed another seven months in prison.
Ryan Wellings, 31, was acquitted of the unlawful killing of 23-year-old Kiena Dawes, who left a suicide note describing him as a ‘monster’ who had ‘killed me’. The hairdresser, from Fleetwood in Lancashire, left the note and their young daughter with a friend before taking her own life on a railway line on July 22, 2022.
In January 2025, Wellings was jailed for six-and-a-half years after being convicted of coercive and controlling behaviour and assault over the course of two years. Last Friday (May 8), he admitted contempt of court after breaching orders made by the judge during the trial, which stipulated that he must not discuss the ongoing proceedings while giving evidence.
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It emerged that Wellings disregarded these directions by discussing the case across eight telephone calls made from prison with his partner, Lisa Croft, 29, and his mother Lisa Green, 53, between December 17 2024 and January 2 2025.
Prosecutor Adam Birkby stated that mother-of-two Croft had been present in court when the judicial warnings were issued, and that Green was a potential defence witness who was fully aware she could not discuss the trial while it was ongoing, reports Lancs Live.
Ryan Wellings
He told Preston Crown Court: “The Crown’s case is that during the telephone calls the defendants engaged in witness coaching, and that their joint intention was to influence and thereby improve both the content of the evidence given by Ryan Wellings and the manner in which he gave it. This was in flagrant breach of the clear order of the court.”
During one phone conversation, Croft instructed Wellings: “Some advice to listen, so take it in. Say how sorry you was and how you regret some of your action. You can show emotion. If you do feel like you’re gonna cry then let it out.”
Several days afterwards, Wellings broke down in tears while providing testimony about learning of Kiena Dawes’ death, the prosecutor stated. In a separate exchange, Croft told Wellings: “I’ve got some more pointers to get across to ya.
Kiena Dawes
“When kick offs happened express whether it was just you or both of you, and things that blew up worse because of her, reason being her mental health and you found it difficult to deal with.”
Croft additionally counselled: “Don’t forget to keep mentioning self-defence. Get it in there.”
Mr Birkby stated: “It is submitted that the breach of the court’s order itself and, more significantly, the coaching of Ryan Wellings in order to influence and thereby improve both the content of his evidence and the manner in which he gave it, represent a significant interference with the fairness and integrity of the trial.
“Witness coaching is, by its very nature, an egregious contravention of a fundamental principle of criminal proceedings.”
Croft and Green also admitted contempt of court. Judge Robert Altham, the Honorary Recorder of Preston who oversaw Wellings’s trial, told the defendants: “This conduct on the part of all three of you represents a serious interference with the fairness and integrity of the trial process in an important and serious case concerning the loss of life.”
Kiena Dawes was subjected years of domestic abuse and assault
He stated, however, that it could not be determined whether the “ultimate outcome” of the trial had been affected. Wellings, who had been due for release as early as next June, was handed a seven-month prison sentence to run consecutively to his current term of imprisonment.
Croft and Green received six-month jail terms, suspended for 20 months. Green and Wellings’s father, Michael Wellings, 51, admitted at an earlier hearing to kidnapping their granddaughter weeks after Ms Dawes’s death.
The child, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was “snatched from the street” before the pair drove off a short distance and Green rang 999 to say they had to “snatch her back” because they alleged the Dawes family had refused to return her and that their son held parental responsibility. Officers attended and the defendants were arrested.
Handing them both nine-month prison sentences, suspended for 20 months, Judge Altham said: “You didn’t think of your granddaughter, you thought only of yourselves.”
Jurors had previous how heard Ms Dawes had suffered two years of violence and abuse at the hands of Wellings. She had been diagnosed with an emotionally unstable personality disorder, resulting in increased impulsivity, poor self-esteem and difficulty in relationships, a condition allegedly exploited by the defendant.