A drunk Hulk weighing 25 bricks has been jailed after crushing his petite girlfriend with a giant ‘bellyflop’ during a terrifying beating in their hotel room.
Sean Mellin, 40, left five-foot-tall Charlotte Marsden fearing she would die after he used his excess weight to pin her to the ground and then told her, “You’re not going anywhere” as she lay gasping for breath. bite.
Mellin also strangled, beat and kicked the 32-year-old in the hotel room during a drink-and-drug-fueled rampage in what a judge described as a “night of bullying and assault.”
The victim Marsden said the former courier was like a ‘potbellied demon’, using his massive size to overpower her while they were staying at a Travelodge in Bolton, Greater Manchester.
At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Mellin, who lives in Bolton, was sentenced to three years in prison after admitting bodily harm and strangulation.
Sean Mellin, 40, was jailed for three years for assaulting and strangling five-foot-tall Charlotte Marsden during a drink-and-drug fueled rampage
A court heard how the 25-stone man resembled a ‘potbellied demon’ when he used his massive size to overpower Ms Marsden while they were staying at a Travelodge in Bolton, Greater Manchester
The victim, dressed only in a towel, was only able to escape after Mellin fell asleep after the attack. She suffered bruises to her back, throat, legs, back of ears and face in the incident.
In a statement to police, Ms Marsden said: ‘He’s tall and broad, and he’s got a big belly. He knows he is stronger than me and knew I was afraid of him.
“I couldn’t breathe when he was on top of me. I had a vision of myself lying dead on the bed in just my pink hoodie. I thought I’d end up like a cabbage. He was like a monster, like a demon. He wasn’t quite there behind his eyes.’
She added: “It was horrible that he choked me, he squeezed and put his fingers in my nose. This meant I couldn’t breathe. All I could do was beg him with my eyes to stop. I thought I was going to die. He didn’t calm down until I started talking sweetly to him. When I was on the toilet while sick, he said “you’re faking it, you f*****g fake b***h”.’
“I felt degraded, like a lowlife. I thought I would never see my cousin again. He knew my cousin and I were close, so he used that against me. When I finally left I was hysterical, I was a wreck. He was someone else that night. I had to stay with other people because I thought he would kill me when he got out. I haven’t missed him since he left.’
The pair met during the first lockdown in 2020 and according to Miss Marsden he initially seemed ‘a nice guy’ but the relationship quickly turned toxic and as Covid restrictions tightened the victim described feeling ‘trapped with him’ .
She said: ‘I met him when I was 30, I was fragile and had an eating disorder and I was a mess. He would bully and belittle me for having low self-confidence and he always told me he was scurrying around. However, I grew in confidence and he knew I was trying to leave him before, and as a result he got angrier than ever.”
The attack took place last August after Mellin booked himself and Miss Marsden into their local Travel Lodge for five nights so he could drink and do drugs away from home.
In a statement to police, Ms Marsden said: ‘He’s tall and broad, and he’s got a big belly. He knows he is stronger than me and knew I was afraid of him.
Prosecutor Mark Pritchard said: ‘Things went well at first, but an argument broke out between them and that’s where things started to go wrong.
‘Suspect grabbed the complainant by the throat with both hands and held her so long that she vomited. When she ran to the toilet to get sick, the defendant accused her of faking it.
Then he grabbed her by the hair and kicked her in the face. He also banged her head against the walls in the room several times. He then held her to the ground with his body weight and suffocated her. She said she couldn’t breathe, but he said you’re not going anywhere. Then he said, in a change of mind, let’s settle down, please don’t leave me.
“Later, when the couple was asleep, the complainant woke up and tried to get her clothes together to escape, but she couldn’t find them. When the defendant woke up, the complainant pretended to go to the toilet.
“The defendant tried to grab her but missed, and she sat on the toilet and pretended to urinate. Standing at the door, the defendant yelled, “Where’s your pee? I’m going to kill you if you don’t pee now”. Then he jumped on top of her and slammed her head back against the back of the toilet.
Prosecutor Mark Pritchard said: ‘The defendant grabbed the complainant by the throat with both hands and held her until she vomited. When she ran to the toilet to get sick, the defendant accused her of faking it.
‘The complainant left the room when the defendant fell asleep. She was dressed only in a towel when she called the police. She sustained bruises to her back, throat, legs, back of ears and face. The defendant was later arrested and denied the facts in an interrogation. He’s been in custody since his arrest.’
Mellin initially pleaded not guilty, but changed his plea on the day of the trial. He was banned from contacting Ms Marsden and her sister indefinitely under the terms of a restraining order.
At sentencing, the judge, Mr Recorder Imran Shafi KC, told Mellin: ‘This relationship was laced with violence and it all came to a head on 22 August last year.
“You showed no remorse or concern for your then-partner, even accusing her of faking illness after you strangled her.
“Your behavior on that day was beyond disgraceful, you belittled, bullied and abused your partner. You enjoyed humiliating and hurting her, you were clearly stronger than her, and you made sure she knew. She really believed she would die that night at your hand. All this and you showed no remorse.”
Mellin’s lawyer, Clare Ashcroft, said in a mitigating way: ‘He disagrees with some of what Ms Marsden said in her statement, although he accepts that his behavior was inexcusable and he regrets it.
“This relationship was completely volatile, it was clearly a toxic relationship. The crime took place during a period when the couple stayed in a hotel room. Both parties had been drinking and had left the room at various times throughout the evening to do drugs. This added fuel to the volatility already in the relationship.”