Jealous bully who beat girlfriend so badly her teeth went through her lip is jailed

A jealous bully who punched a Middlesbrough mother so hard her teeth went through her lip has been jailed.

Suzie Harburn, 40, was violently attacked and repeatedly strangled by her former partner Dean Cameron.

Suzie says Cameron, 36, “turned around” one morning as he grabbed her by the throat, picked her up and pinned her to the side of their bed.

Suzie screamed for help and her son Jamie ran to find Cameron standing over his mother, as she lay injured on the bedroom floor.

Cameron, a construction worker, strangled Suzie and slammed her head against the bed frame three times that morning, August 7, 2021.

The single mother said she nudged him and asked, “Why are you talking to me like that?” after she said he “gave me a bit of grief” while they were in bed.

Suzie was left with a black eye, cuts and bruises.

However, despite her injuries, she did not end the relationship with Cameron – who she said could be “very kind and caring”, but “went from 0 to 60 in seconds” if something bothered him .

“I often wanted to leave,” Suzie said after her former fiancé’s incarceration. “He was really apologetic. I gave him another chance. That should have been my cue to leave.

The couple met on Facebook and were together for over three years. Suzie says Cameron was sweet at first, but “red flags started about four months later” when he started trying to control her.

Suzie is a single mother to Jamie, 19, who is studying at university for an HNC in Electrical Engineering.

Jamie listens as her mother, who works as a tutor at an electrical class, says that her former fiancé “was all about control.”

“It was always a problem if I wanted to go out somewhere without him. I was scared if someone texted me when they were here on the weekend.

“He used to check my phone. He wouldn’t let me have a drink at home if I was alone.

The couple got engaged and were enjoying a weekend at Suzie’s in Middlebeck on November 27, 2022.

They were planning their wedding when Cameron lost control and subjected Suzie to another attack. “We were going to get married in January 2023, because his grandmother was unwell.

“We had bought engagement rings and booked the registry office. On Sunday he started acting strange. He had drunk four cans of San Miguel.

“There were splash marks on the kitchen surface and he asked about it.

“There was a golf ball in my car, he kept questioning it. Then he said: ‘Ignore me Suze, I’m having a bit of a free day.’

Cameron then accused Suzie of “having someone in the house.”

She explained: “I was taking the laundry out of the machine and there were blue socks. I asked him if they were his. We didn’t know who they belonged to.

“I said, ‘Are you kidding me? We are going to get married. “It exploded.

Cameron pushed his little partner down the stairs. She struggled with him and managed to escape through the front door.

Cameron drove off, kicking Suzie’s car as he drove past. But he soon returned and found Suzie about to call her father.

“He attacked me again on the stairs. He wouldn’t leave the house. He was yelling at me.

“He hit me hard in the face. When I came back, I felt the taste of blood in my mouth. I said, ‘I’m calling my dad,’ and he strangled me,” Suzie recalls.

Cameron had hit the mother with such force that her teeth had passed through the front of her lips. She needed stitches in hospital and then struggled to eat for weeks.

She said she was left “shaking” after the attack and felt like a nervous wreck.

By pure chance, a neighbor had heard the screams when Cameron left the house and called the emergency services.

The neighbor’s CCTV captured Cameron starting Suzie’s car as he went out, before returning to punch and strangle his fiancée.

On September 30, Suzie and Jamie took the day off work to go to court and watch Cameron be sentenced for the two attacks.

None of them thought he would go to prison. “There was some sort of communication problem. The bailiff told us to wait outside the courtroom to be called.

“We missed the hearing. His new girlfriend came in, I know she’s by his side.

“I was really surprised when I learned that the judge gave him two years in prison. I’m happy. He would never learn. He deserves it.

Suzie was too ashamed to speak out and tell people what happened during their relationship.

“I was afraid people would think I was a bad mother if I reported him and it became public,” she said, “but if you’re in my situation, get help. The police will help.

“The strangulation in our relationship had become normal. If you’re in the situation I was in, talk to someone. If you can’t contact the police, talk to your friends.

Cameron admitted two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, at Teesside Crown Court.

Her current partner wrote a reference to his character and his lawyer said he was drunk when he attacked Suzie.

Jailing Cameron for two years, Judge Chris Smith said the domestic violence had been “unpleasant” and the mental impact on Suzie “was considerable”.

And the blue socks? “They belonged to family friends. Jamie had borrowed them the night of the bonfire because he had gotten something wet on them. He forgot he borrowed them.

“The golf ball”? Suzie laughs now that she has her life back and feels safe, “it’s strange.

“I found it on my lawn and put it in my car, thinking I’m going to give it to my dad because he’s a great golf player.” Dean was just looking for something to start with.