Trudi Burgess and her ex-partner, Robert Easom (Picture: Family handouts)
A mum was left paralysed after her abusive partner severed her spinal cord when she said she was leaving him.
Trudi Burgess, 57, was pushed so hard by her ex Robert Easom, 56, that she thought she was going to die when she heard a crack in her neck.
Doctors operated on Trudi for 11 hours, but her injuries were so severe that she now requires a wheelchair and adaptations in her home to regain her independence.
Jurors took only 27 minutes to convict Easom of deliberately and intentionally causing her grievous bodily harm this week following a trial.
Trudi Burgess was in critical care (Picture: Family Handout)
Sign up for all of the latest stories
Start your day informed with Metro's News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.
Police described Easom as a ‘violent and controlling bully’. He will be sentenced in February next year.
Trudi said she tried to leave Easom ‘at least 30 times’ before February 17, but felt she was trapped in a ‘cycle of abuse’.
She described her former partner as ‘very frightening’ and exhibiting different personas.
‘He just had this monster side to him, like a Jekyll and Hyde,’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘He was very, very, very frightening when he was in a rage, but I would always know he’d soon come out of it and then he’d be back to normal. I likened it to The Incredible Hulk.’
Recalling the incident in February that left her paralysed, Trudi said: ‘I was screaming, “Don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me”.
Trudi Burgess may never be able to walk again after suffering severe injuries from Robert Easom (Picture: Bruce Adams/Daily Mail)
‘I was saying, “I’m coming back tonight. I promise, I love you. There are no problems. It’s all good.
‘I was just trying to calm it [but] I couldn’t calm him down. Then he came and he grabbed me from the bedhead to the foot of the bed, screaming, “Shut up. Shut the f*** up.’
She said she ‘couldn’t feel my body’ after hearing a crack in her neck and believed she was going to die.
Trudi began a relationship with Easom, her sister Sophie’s gardener, in November 2016, shortly after losing her husband, Craig, who died from a brain tumour aged 57.
She and Craig met when they were 17 and regularly gigged in a band together before Trudi, an accomplished singer, secured a record deal at 23.
Jurors took only 27 minutes to convict Robert Easom of grievous bodily harm(Picture: Lancashire Police)
Trudi Burgess (right) pictured with her late husband Craig (left) and their two children, Jack and Gina, on holiday in the south of France (Picture: Bruce Adams/Daily Mail)
Trudi said that she was ‘immediately attracted’ to Easom but just seven months into their relationship, the ‘poison’ of abuse began.
In February 2018, during a trip to York, Easom attacked Trudi after waking him up after he fell asleep, before dragging her into the bathroom.
He threatened her and, quoting a line from Rambo, told her: ‘Don’t push or I’ll give you a war’.
A year later, Easom shouted at the mum-of-two and violently grabbed her before dragging her upstairs by the head and banging it on each step.
In 2021, Trudi thought she might die when Easom put a sheet over her head and attempted to strangle her during another trip in York.
This Is Not Right
On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.
With the help of our partners at Women’s Aid, This Is Not Right aims to shine a light on the sheer scale of this national emergency.
You can find more articles here, and if you want to share your story with us, you can send us an email at [email protected].
Read more:
Remembering the women killed by men in 2024
Introducing This Is Not Right: Metro’s year-long violence against women campaign
Easom’s violence culminated in February when Trudi told him she was leaving him.
More Trending
-
Disruption at UK airports confirmed this weekend after 6,000 planes found unsafe to fly
Channel: UK UK 3 hours ago By Ryan Prosser - ‘Kind and loving’ boy, 14, killed after being hit by a train named and pictured
- Outbreak of medieval skin disease in UK schools leaving patients’ flesh ‘crawling’
- British granddad 'accused of trying to drown daughter-in-law on holiday’ avoids jail
Trudi documented the incidents and wrote about her abuse in the notes section of her phone to make sense of what was happening.
Her injuries were so severe she may never be able to walk again.
Her children, Gina, now 28, and Jackson, 27, have set up a GoFundMe to raise money to transform her home into an accessible living space, a specialist wheelchair and ongoing care.
So far, the family have raised £127,817 of their £200,000 target – an amount they hope will help Trudi regain her independence.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Arrow MORE: Man arrested in the UK for posing with gun more than 4,000 miles away in the US
Arrow MORE: Sex offender who ‘destroyed’ child’s life claims jury was hypnotised to convict her
Arrow MORE: Man ‘who will be missed every day’ dies following street fight in east London
Comment now Comments Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source Breaking NewsNever miss the biggest stories with breaking news alerts in your inbox.
Email I agree to receive newsletters from Metro I agree to receive newsletters from Metro Sign UpSign UpThis site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy
