Wrexham man jailed for 30 years of abuse against wife

A Wrexham man who subjected his wife to over 30 years of domestic abuse has been jailed for three years and five months. ⚖️

Andrew Stockman, 54, of Llay Place Avenue, Llay, admitted engaging in controlling coercive behaviour in an intimate family relationship at Caernarfon Crown Court today (Wednesday).

The court heard that Stockman verbally and physically abused his wife Sandra throughout their marriage. She tried to leave him on several occasions, but he would emotionally blackmail her to come back, threatening to kill himself and her. At one point she even sold the house, making herself homeless.

Prosecuting Richard Edwards told the court: “Over the years, she has been kicked, punched, strangled numerous times and has lost count of the times he has given her a black eye, including the night before her grandfather’s funeral, because he didn’t want her to go.”

The defendant also told her: “She would never have anybody else and if she does he would kill her and also him.”

Things came to a head when they went to Spain over Christmas in 2024. When a woman Ms Stockman was looking after died, Stockman wouldn’t let her fly home and threw her out without a passport. “She was wandering around Benidorm with nowhere to go and had to sneak back into her apartment to get her passport, so she could fly home,” said Mr Edwards.

In April this year, Stockman phoned a friend of Ms Stockman and said he had a gun and he and Ms Stockman “would be dying together”.

In a victim impact statement, Ms Stockman said: “I feel like Andrew deprived me of a normal adult life as up until the moment he was arrested, I have never been able to make decisions for the benefit of myself or make my own choices. I feel angry that I have lost years, because he made me believe that being hit, feeling worthless and emotionally blackmailed, was normal.”

Sentencing Stockman, Judge Timothy Petts said: “Your abuse took the form of frequent physical attacks as well as verbal and emotional abuse. On many occasions you would threaten to kill her or kill yourself,” in what he described as “an appalling history of abuse”.

Stockman was also given an indefinite domestic abuse protection order and must pay a statutory surcharge. The couple are now going through a divorce.