A 25-stone drunken man has been jailed for three years after flattening his girlfriend with a “bellyflop” during a vicious beating. Sean Mellin, 40, pinned five-foot Charlotte Marsden to the ground in a Travelodge telling her she was “not going anywhere” as he strangled, punched and kicked her, a court heard.

The assault took place in Bolton, Greater Manchester while Mellin was under the influence of drink and drugs. Ms Marsden described her ex as a “demon with a big belly” and said he used his bulky frame to outmuscle her.

The 32-year-old managed to escape his clutches in only a towel during what the judge branded as a “night of bullying and brutalising”.

However, she wasn’t able to avoid bruising to her face, throat, legs, back and the back of her ears during the incident which took place in August 2022.

Following the violent encounter, Mellin was jailed for three years. He admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and strangulation at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester.

His victim said that she felt “degraded, like a lowlife” after Mellin fell asleep following the beating and she fled the scene.

In a police statement, Ms Marsden said: ”He’s big and broad, and he’s got a big belly. He knows he is stronger than me and knew that I was frightened 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 only my pink hoodie. I thought I was going to end up like a cabbage. He was like a monster, like a demon. He was not all there behind his eyes.”

She went on: “Him strangling me was awful, he squeezed and pushed his fingers into my nose. This meant I couldn’t breathe. I could only plead with my eyes for him to stop. I thought I was going to die. He only calmed down when I started to sweet talk him. When I was on the toilet being sick, he said you’re faking it, you f*g false b***h.”

Judge Mr Recorder Imran Shafi KC said the relationship between Mellin and Ms Marsden was “punctuated with violence”.

Ms Marsden revealed she was a “mess” as she was suffering with an eating disorder when she first met the would-be attacker.

During the first lockdown in 2020, she thought he was a “nice guy”, however as pandemic restrictions tightened the young woman said she started to feel “trapped with him”.

She said: “He would bully and belittle me because I had poor self-confidence and he always told me he had been s******g around.

“However, I grew in confidence, and he knew I was trying to leave him before this, and as a result he became angrier than ever.”

Prosecutor Mark Pritchard told the court: “Things were initially going well, but an argument broke out between them and that is where things started to go wrong.

“The defendant grabbed the complainant by her throat with both hands and held her so long that she vomited. When she ran to the toilet to be sick, the defendant accused her of faking it.

”He then grabbed her by the hair and kicked her in the face. He also smashed her head against the walls around the room on a number of occasions. He then held her down on the floor with his bodyweight, suffocating her. She said she couldn’t breathe, but he said you’re not going anywhere. Then in a change of heart he said let’s settle down, please don’t leave me.

“Later when the pair 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 walk to the toilet.

”The defendant tried to grab her but missed, and she sat on the toilet and pretended to wee. Standing at the door, the defendant shouted, where is your wee? I am going to kill you if you don’t have a wee now. Then he jumped on her and smashed her head back on the back of the toilet…

“The defendant was later arrested and denied the offences in [an] interview. He has remained in custody since his arrest.”

Initially, Mellin pleaded not guilty however he changed his plea on the day of the trial. A restraining order was placed on him, meaning he can no longer contact Ms Marsden and her sister.

Mellin’s lawyer, Clare Ashcroft, said in his defence: “He does not agree with some of what Ms Marsden said in her statement although he accepts that his behaviour was inexcusable and he is remorseful for it.”

The Judge told Mellin during sentencing: “This relationship was punctuated with violence and this all came to a head on August 22 last year.

”You showed neither remorse nor concern for your then partner, even accusing her of faking being sick after you strangled her.

“Your behaviour on that day was beyond disgraceful, you belittled, bullied and brutalised your partner. You enjoyed humiliating and hurting her, you were obviously stronger than her, and you made sure she knew it.

“She genuinely believed that she was going to die that night by your hand. All of this and you showed not a slither of remorse.”

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