Chloe Beecham’s life completely changed after her Harry Boulton punched her in the head so bad that the carotid artery in her neck was dissected, leaving her with a brain injury
A woman said she is “lucky to be alive” after her ex punched her in the head so hard it left her paralysed.
Chloe Beecham, 30, suffered a life-changing stroke after her former partner, Harry Boulton, attacked her when she caught him cheating. In the attack, the 29-year-old hit Chloe so hard that the carotid artery in her neck was dissected, leaving her with a brain injury. After the attack, Chloe was rushed to hospital and her family was told she might not survive. Initially, hospital staff didn’t know the cause of Chloe injuries, and Boulton was allowed to visit her. At some point, as she fought for her life, Boulton texted Chloe: “I’m struggling.”
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Chloe was completely paralysed down the right side of her body and could not walk or talk after the attack. She spent three months in four different hospitals undergoing rehabilitation. While she has made great progress, her life has been shattered, the Manchester Evening News reported.
She still struggles to speak and suffers with aphasia, caused by her brain injury. She needed the help of a speech therapist to make a police statement and her 49-year-old mother Lesley supports her with communication now.
Chloe also suffers with chronic fatigue, meaning she is often confined to her bed for days, and also struggles to walk. She has to rely on her mum for daily tasks including tying her shoelaces, doing her own hair and cutting up her food. After Boulton was jailed for three years, Chloe’s family was left devastated at the length of his imprisonment – but they have now been told he will be eligible for early release after serving just seven months.
The young woman said: “I knew Harry was cheating and that night, I had decided to end the relationship. He flew into a rage and punched me so hard that the pain in my head was unbearable.
“I’m lucky to be alive but I’ve been left with permanent disabilities. I have seizures and I suffer weakness down my right side. I have severe problems with my speech and mobility.
“Before the attack, I had a good job, my own home, a car, and lots of friends. Harry took all that away from me overnight. I’m reliant on my family to look after me. I will keep fighting but I will never get back to how I was before. Three years in jail feels like an insult. He is eligible for early release soon; there is no end in sight to my injuries. How can this be right or fair?”
Chloe met her ex on Tinder in 2018 and initially, their relationship went well. She said she “fell for him” and he seemed caring at first – but when she noticed he was keen “to move things along quickly and talked of buying a house together,” she wanted him to slow down. However, Chloe said her ex’s behaviour changed a couple of months in, as he often “picked fault” at her and was unhappy with her shift patterns when she worked as a manager, so she changed her hours.
She said Boulton “knocked” her confidence by saying none of his family and friends liked her – and he wanted to see her secretly. Chloe said: “I was hurt but I really liked him. I didn’t see that he was just being cruel, chipping away at my self-esteem so he could treat me badly.”
While they continued seeing each other on and off, Chloe wasn’t allowed to socialise with Boulton’s friends or visit his home in Sale, Trafford, Greater Manchester. At that point, she figure out that he had been cheating on her with other women. Chloe said of her ex: “He kept saying he loved me, and he was nearly ready to commit and move in together but in reality, he was cheating on me all the way through.
“I started to suspect he was seeing other girls but when I confronted him, he was violent. He pushed me up against a wall one night. Another time he dragged me by my foot from the bottom of the stairs. Whilst I was sitting next to him, I saw him messaging another girl on Snapchat and he split my lip open when I asked about her. I didn’t know what to do. I felt very isolated and confused. I couldn’t tell anyone about the violence because nobody even knew we were in a relationship.
“Even my own family didn’t know I was still seeing him. Harry kept me hanging on all the time, like I was supposed to be grateful for the attention he gave me. I’d never have seen myself as a victim of domestic abuse and it just didn’t register; when you are in the middle of it, you can’t see it.”
The tragic attack happened in December 2022, the couple argued about after Boulton went to Edinburgh to celebrate his birthday. Chloe said Boulton had told her he needed to go away on his own “for some peace” but she eventually found photos and messages which showed he was actually there with a girl.
Chloe said: “We were in bed in my flat and I was very calm. I picked up his phone and asked him about the girl. I was worried he was going to lose his temper, and I locked myself in the bathroom. But he promised he’d stay reasonable and so I came out. There were messages from other girls on his phone too. I wanted the truth from him; I’d realised he was never going to change, and we needed to separate.”
However, once in the living room, Chloe says Boulton erupted with rage and punched her several times to the back of her head, neck and face. She says: “I was screaming at him to stop, that he was hurting me. I immediately felt the blood rushing in my neck and my eye swelled up immediately. My head was throbbing. I felt so ill; I went back to bed and asked Harry to sleep on the couch.”
Boulton left the flat during the night – and she said he made no effort to check on her or to call for help even though she was not responding. The following morning, she wasn’t feeling well but went to work after covering her black eye with make-up. However, her colleagues became alarmed when she began dropping things and dragging her right foot, so they took her to hospital.
Chloe was transferred to Salford Royal Infirmary, a specialist stroke unit where doctors established her stroke was due to an almost severed carotid artery following trauma. Her family travelled from Lincolnshire to be at her bedside and Boulton also visited Chloe in hospital, telling staff he was devastated by her collapse.
It later emerged that the stroke was trauma-induced and Boulton admitted o Lesley only that he had pushed Chloe. He was arrested and Chloe was placed under police guard. It was later established he had punched Chloe. She was later transferred to a hospital in Lincolnshire near her family home and one month later, she was able to tell her mother: “Harry, phone, punch, stroke.”
Boulton, an accountant, appeared before Manchester Crown Court in April and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of wounding without intent. He was jailed for three years. Chloe now wants to help other domestic abuse victims after her life was “shattered” by her ex.
She said: “My focus now is on raising awareness of strokes in young people but most importantly of the devastating impact of domestic abuse. Please don’t stay with someone until they hit you so hard that they nearly kill you. I’ve had wonderful support from the police and rehab staff and me and my family are extremely grateful to them all. Help is out there. Please don’t stay silent – it could cost your life.”
For confidential support, call the 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Freephone Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or visit womensaid.co.uk. If you or your family have lost a friend or family member through fatal domestic abuse, AAFDA (Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse) can offer specialist and expert support and advocacy. For more info visit** www.aafda.org.uk**.