A vicious domestic abuser who treated his partner like his ‘property’ boasted his sentence would be ‘light work’ before he was locked up for 31 months.
James Rogers subjected his girlfriend to a horrific campaign of abuse and intimidation, the Liverpool Echo reports. He threatened to share intimate photos of her online, said he would cover her father’s hearse with mud at his funeral, bombarded her with up to 100 phone calls a day and branded her a “dirty, dirty slut”, the court heard.
The 24-year-old boasted that he would only receive probation for his shameful actions – a punishment he called “light work.” But instead he was jailed by a judge who described him as ‘highly offensive’.
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Liverpool Crown Court heard on Thursday (April 11) how Rogers, also known as James Heckingbottom, had been with his victim since 2020. She described their relationship as ‘violent and abusive’. with his ‘extremely jealous, paranoid and controlling behaviour’ which ultimately left her ‘in fear for her life’.
Christopher Taylor, prosecuting, explained how Rogers threatened her family on Instagram, telling her he would burn down her mother’s house and saying he would wrongly report her to the RSPCA for ‘mistreating’ her dog. The defendant called her, among other things, ‘sl*g, sl*t, dog and dirty little rat’, demanded that she change her clothes to his liking, instructed her not to shave her legs and sent her a message on Facebook with the notice that he would post sexual images of her online.
Rogers also allegedly “asked her why she was following other men on social media” and “demanded that they meet him for a fight.” One violent incident occurred on May 12, after the couple had been drinking at home.
Shortly before 11pm she left the address and went to a nearby shop before visiting a friend’s house. She didn’t return until around 4 a.m., at which point an argument ensued and Rogers “got in her face.”
She retaliated by punching him in the left ear, after which he grabbed her hair and she grabbed his. The pair spent the next five minutes wrestling in the living room, leaving her with scratches and a black eye from where he elbowed her in the face.
Rogers was later granted a domestic violence protection order in May 2023, preventing him from contacting the complainant for a month. He was banned from seeing her further under bail conditions imposed on August 23.
But three days later he started shouting at her while ‘red in the face’ during an altercation in Seel Street in central Liverpool – with his girlfriend fleeing into the Ropewalks Hotel after he told her: ‘Mate, you can best to wait. your chin will break.”
Rogers then began bombarding her with calls and texts, saying in his messages, “I will kill you, you dirty, dirty slut. You stupid slut.
‘I’ll beat you up. I’ll break your neck
“Listen, I’m going to punch you. I’m going to hit you on the chin right now.’
His rant only stopped when he was arrested. Then, after her father’s death the following month, Rogers threatened that he would “come on his bike and disrupt his funeral.”
On September 30, he turned up outside her flat on Stanley Street in the city center and started calling her ‘constantly’ ‘every 10 minutes’ from an unlisted number from the early hours – calling her more than 100 times during the day. When she responded, he “demanded to see her.”
Rogers even continued his barrage when police officers arrived on the scene. He was subsequently arrested at the Premier Inn Liverpool North in Bootle.
But he then continued his contact on October 5 after being taken into custody at Altcourse prison. During an initial phone call, Rogers started by “being overly nice” and told her he “missed her” when he “called her from one of the guys’ phone.”
But after calling her again, he claimed he would only be “on probation for 12 months,” which he called “light work.” The prisoner added that he was ‘in prison with his brother and some lads from Kirkby’.
In a statement read to the court on her behalf, his ex outlined that she was ‘unable to properly mourn her father’ as a result of his actions. She added: “I now have no self-esteem and no confidence, I don’t trust anyone and believe everyone wants to hurt me.
“I know this is all because of Jay. My mind no longer functions properly.”
Rogers was also convicted over an incident on September 25 at around 5.15pm when he was seen riding an off-road motorbike in St Helens. He was followed by police patrols as the vehicle traveled at high speed onto Ashcroft Street.
The unlicensed and uninsured driver then appeared to ‘run away’ from officers before crashing into a van on Parr Stocks Road. Rogers was left with blood dripping from his left hand and complaining of pain in his finger and shoulder after the impact.
Emily Land, defending, told the court: ‘The defendant’s immature and naive behavior and flawed thinking mean he has not truly understood the final impact his appalling behavior is likely to have on this young woman, most likely on the rest of her to live. This is a defendant who is young – he just turned 24 this week.
‘He spent his birthday in prison. He doesn’t want to spend any more time there.
‘He doesn’t want to spend another birthday in prison. This is the first time he has been in custody.
“He recognizes that he has abandonment and attachment issues. That led to him lashing out at her.
“He is heartbroken that this is the result of his first serious relationship. He accepts that his behavior was unacceptable and wrong.
“He is desperate for help to control his emotions. It is he who must make that change, and he is taking those steps slowly.
“Everything came on top of him. He was struggling financially and took it out on her, which is completely unacceptable.
‘He wants to find work. He wants to start his own family.
“He recognizes that this is punishment for his behavior, which was completely out of character. He does not want to subject anyone else to that behavior again.”
Rogers, formerly of Hurst Park Drive in Huyton, admitted threatening to make public private sexual images, controlling or coercive behaviour, stalking, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, dangerous driving, driving without a license and driving without insurance. When he appeared via video link to HMP Altcourse, wearing a black zip-up Nike top, he was jailed for 31 months.
Sentencing, Recorder Richard Pratt KC said: ‘These offenses reflect a very abusive relationship in which you manipulated and abused your former partner in so many different ways. You did this while she wanted nothing to do with you, consistently and relentlessly. , through your phone – in one day alone you tried to talk to her a hundred times.
‘You were very insulting towards her and called her scandalous and insulting names. You violated her.
“I’ve seen her in court, and she’s small and of slight build. Although she was brave enough to fight back, in reality she was no match for you.
‘You threatened to make intimate photos of her public via social media. You even threatened to disrupt her father’s funeral by spraying mud on the hearse with your motorcycle.
“During your time together, in your arrogant mind you treated her not as a person but as property. She was subjected to violence and humiliation.
“I note that you have shown that you have had mental health problems in the past. This is the first offense for which you will receive a prison sentence, and your last offense was a long time ago, when you were very, very younger.”
Rogers was also given a restraining order, banning him from contacting his victim for 10 years. He was disqualified from driving for two years and 11 months and must take an extended retest before being allowed back on the road.
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