Exclusive:
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES Marc Masterton has been found guilty of abusing his ex girlfriend Zoe Castle, a year after he was sentenced for abusing Chloe Holland to the point she took her own life
A violent thug who physically and mentally abused one woman who was driven to take her own life has been jailed for a terrifying two-year campaign of domestic violence against a second woman. Marc Masterton, 26, was jailed for 3 years and 7 months yesterday (16 May) at Portsmouth Crown Court after pleading guilty to engaging in controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate relationship which included an acceptance that violence was used as part of the abuse.
His victim was his ex-girlfriend Zoe Castle, 24, who was terrorised by Masterton between July 2017 and September 2019, when they were dating. The sentence will run consecutively to the 41 months he is already serving for abusing Chloe Holland, 23, who died on March 6, 2023, five weeks after trying to take her own life.
Zoe was encouraged to come forward after seeing a Facebook post about Chloe’s death. And she is now supporting the Mirror’s Justice For Our Daughter’s campaign, which backs calls by Chloe’s mum Sharon Holland for there to be a separate charge of manslaughter by coercive control for perpetrators whose victims take their own lives as a result of domestic abuse.
When she found he had abused another woman, Zoe was shocked. “I couldn’t believe he had done this again," she tells The Mirror. "I literally had hairs come up on my body. I felt so sick. My belly was going. I thought ‘Oh my God!”
Masterton began dating young mum Zoe after meeting when they were both teenagers, but when they moved in together in Southsea the abuse began to spiral. “He would always attack my face because then I wouldn't go out because he knew I'd be scared just for people to see,” she says .”He would attack me a few times a week.”
Zoe lived with her daughter, now 10, and also feared for the then toddler’s safety as she waited for Masterton, who was in and out of prison, to return from nightly crime sprees.
“I would try locking the door and he would just bang my door until he got his own way. I would sometimes ring the police, but I was too scared to press charges,” she says. “He would always threaten me with social services to take my daughter away if I was to ever leave. It was always my fault, it was my fault for the way he acted.”
But it was the psychological torture that she found more painful than her bruises. “You get so worn down mentally that getting a punch is nicer than getting emotionally abused,” she says. “I know that sounds really silly, but a bruise can always heal but emotionally you can't.”
During the relationship, Masterton isolated Zoe and controlled her every move. “If I ever visited my friend's because she lived not far from me, and he then came home he would ring me fuming that I wasn't home and I always had to leave where I was to go back.”
Although she rang the police many times, Masterton always reeled her back in. “He would always threaten me with social services to take my daughter away if I was to ever leave. It was always my fault, it was my fault for the way he acted,” she said. "It was only when Chloe died that I learned that it wasn't me."
But she finally made the decision to escape after she blacked out when he hit her on the side of her head. Thankfully, he was soon imprisoned for another crime so she was safe until he later came out and began a relationship with Chloe.
“I know I should have said something sooner, but I wasn’t ready. I tried not to think about it”, says Zoe. But keeping this grim secret had terrible psychological repercussions. “I used to be a pastry chef," she says. "I've had to come out of work completely, because my mental health has gone downhill, having to bring it all back up. I now see a psychiatrist for PTSD and I'm on quite a few different antidepressants.”
Her daughter has also been supported at school to ensure she can process how she saw her mother treated when she was young. “She shouldn't have had to witness what she has,” says Zoe. “No child should and to be honest, no adult should. The last thing I want is her to think it's okay. So since being with him, I've always made her aware that that's not okay.”
JUSTICE FOR OUR DAUGHTERS
Last year, an estimated 75 women in Britain were killed at home by their partner. They were mums, daughters, grans, sisters and friends. But in the eyes of the law, their murderers don’t deserve the same punishment as a killer in the streets.
OUR DEMANDS
1 Longer sentences for domestic abuse killers
Under current laws if a murderer has brought a weapon to a scene with intent to kill, he or she would expect to be jailed for 25 years. However, if you kill someone with a weapon already at the scene the starting point is 15 years. The law should be updated so these domestic violence killers receive 25 years too.
2 Longer sentences for murder by strangulation
A quarter of domestic homicides are by strangulation. The law should be updated so that when someone is fatally strangled the method of killing is regarded as an aggravating factor and carries a longer sentence.
3 Domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms
For victims of domestic abuse to be given immediate access to trained specialists in police control rooms, in line with Labour’s pledge.
4 Domestic abusers to face manslaughter charges if victims take their own lives
Coercive control and abuse perpetrators should face legal consequences in line with the suffering they have caused.
HOW TO HELP
Add your name to the “coercive control by manslaughter” petition by May 1
WHERE TO GET HELP
If you or a loved one are affected by domestic violence contact Refuge’s NationalDomestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or visit Refuge.
Zoe is now supporting Chloe’s mother Sharon Holland’s call for a manslaughter charge to be brought in for cases like her daughter’s. “I am pleased that he is sentenced today," says Sharon. "All I wanted to hear was that it was consecutive. Because if he gets out of prison there will be another girl like Chloe or like Zoe. He will do this again."
Zoe adds, “These people should be charged for manslaughter, especially if there is enough evidence. If things were different I could have been in Chloe’s position. There is no way that he [Masterton] can be rehabilitated. He should spend his life behind bars.”
