Trudi Burgess left paralysed after neck broken — Robert Easom jailed for 16 years
Robert Easom has been sentenced to 16 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of wounding with intent for an attack that severed Trudi Burgess’s spinal cord and left her paralysed. The case has drawn attention to a prolonged pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour spanning from 2017 to 2025.
Sentence and legal findings at Preston Crown Court
Easom, 57, was convicted at a trial in November and found guilty after 27 minutes of jury deliberation at Preston Crown Court. He was sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment for wounding with intent, two charges of actual bodily harm and coercive and controlling behaviour, followed by a four-year extended licence period. Judge Robert Altham said: "No sentence I can pass upon you could begin to equal the harm that you have caused... even with the lengthy sentence I am about to impose, you will have a prospect of a future which you have denied to your victim. " He added that an extended determinate sentence was required to protect the public.
Details of the 17 February 2025 assault
On 17 February 2025, when Ms Burgess told Easom she was leaving him, he launched a violent assault that severed her spinal cord. Easom called 999 and said she had "fallen out of bed" and "landed in a bad way with her neck. " The injury resulted in a complete spinal cord injury; Ms Burgess is tetraplegic, will never walk again, and now requires continuous specialist care.
Medical and daily impact on Trudi Burgess
Medical evidence set out that Burgess is in constant pain, has no use of her hands, cannot cough without assistance and has no control over her bladder and bowel functions. She remains in a spinal injuries rehabilitation unit and requires ongoing help for essential daily activities. In a victim impact statement she described feeling "trapped in a broken body, " suffering depression, daily anxiety, symptoms of PTSD, flashbacks and nightmares.
Eight-year campaign of coercive behaviour documented
Lancashire Police said Easom subjected Burgess to a "relentless campaign of coercive and controlling behaviour" between July 2017 and February 2025, including verbal and physical abuse. Easom had previously admitted to engaging in coercive and controlling behaviour over that period and to two offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Throughout the relationship Burgess documented the abuse in the notes section of her mobile phone.
Pattern of assaults and intimidation in York and at home
The court heard multiple episodes of violence and humiliation. About seven months into the relationship, during a trip to York, Easom "switched" into a rage, dragged her around a bathroom and threatened her, quoting a line from the film Rambo: "Don't push or I'll give you a war. " On another York trip in 2018 he allegedly dragged her around a bathroom again, threatening: "Don’t push or I’ll give you a war you don’t need. " In 2019 he grabbed her wine, dragged her upstairs by the head and banged her against each step. In 2021, in York, he placed a sheet over her head and strangled her; the next day he dismissed that attack as "just trying to teach her a lesson. " Other examples included forcing her to clean up spilled food, pushing her against furniture, shouting at her, driving dangerously to frighten her and headbutting her.
Accused's denials, victim testimony and statements read in court
Easom, who is from Chipping near Preston and worked as a landscape gardener, denied a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and also denied that he intended to cause serious harm, though he had admitted causing the injury in another context. Burgess, 57, a schoolteacher and former singer from Chorley, attended sentencing and delivered a victim impact statement in person describing her life as "destroyed" and Easom as having a "true Jekyll and Hyde personality. " Detective Constable Bethanie Kirk described Easom as a "manipulative, controlling and cowardly individual. " Prosecutor Sarah Magill told the court that Burgess would feel loved one minute and hurt or humiliated the next. A statement read outside court by her brother, Charlie, said the sentence reflected the seriousness and lasting impact of the abuse and sent an important message that such violence will be taken seriously.
What makes this notable is the scale of documented abuse over eight years and the suddenness of the final, catastrophic assault when Burgess tried to end the relationship: the prosecution established clear cause-and-effect from the decision to leave to the violent response that resulted in permanent injury. The timing matters because the pattern of admitted coercive behaviour between July 2017 and February 2025 framed the attack as the "horrific climax" of a long cycle of control, Lancashire Police said.
