real life

Beaten until her face was unrecognisable. But Dawn Marmoy is speaking out.

 

When police were called to Dawn Marmoy’s home in the Isle of Wright, they were shocked by the gruesome sight they found. Ms Marmoy, aged 60, had been severely beaten. Beaten by her husband – the man she loved – until her face was bruised, swollen and unrecognisable.

The shocking scene was captured by police body cameras in October last year after Ms Marmoy called 999. An officer told Daily Mail it was the worst case of family violence they had ever seen.

Video footage showed Ms Marmoy’s husband, Michael Gregory, answering the front door. Hampshire Police ask to speak to his wife as a dog barks wildly.

Dawn Marmoy after the attack. Image via Youtube/Hampshire Police Department.

Knowing what the police would find, the 77-year-old stalled for time: he was in the middle of cooking a meal, he demanded to know who had called them.

Eventually the footage showed Ms Marmoy sitting in a chair: dazed, frightened and clearly in pain from the terrible injuries her husband had inflicted.

Gregory was arrested. He pleaded guilty to assault in May this year and was jailed for his crime.

But while Ms Marmoy is now safe, she still fears for others like her – people who are being abused by their loved ones, who feel they have nowhere to go.

With her consent, the Hampshire Police have released the camera footage of that shocking night. Ms Marmoy is now urging other victims of family violence to speak up.

“You’ve got a life, and you deserve that life. These people make you feel worthless, completely useless. That’s not true.

“They deserve the punishment, you don’t, but until you tell someone, or say it’s ‘got to stop’, it will carry on. Do what you’ve got to do, but do it sooner than I did it,” Ms Marmoy said.

“If they (police) had left that night and that camera wasn’t on, and it had been a little bit later, they wouldn’t have found me as they did, they would have found a body.”