Wigan woman jailed for life for murdering her girlfriend
Becky Reid will serve a minimum of 20 years for murder
A Wigan woman's been jailed of life for murdering her girlfriend after years of abuse.
30-year old Lyndsey Vaux was found to have 90 seperate injuries on her body - inflicted by her partner Becky Reid.
Becky Reid will serve a minimum of 20 years for beating Lyndsey to death in May last year.
Reid of Hayward Road, Atherton was found guilty of the murder of Lyndsey Vaux, and section 18 assault relating to another woman, aged 37, after a trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Our reporter Amy Scarisbrick has been following the case:
30-year-old Lyndsey Vaux from Platt Bridge was taken to hospital in May last year in a suspected cardiac arrest, where she sadly died later that morning.
A post-mortem found that Lyndsey had died from multiple injuries and police launched an investigation into her death.
During the trial, the court heard how in 2014 Lyndsey lived with Becky Reid on Sydney Street in Platt Bridge. Over a number of years, Lyndsey was attacked and abused by Reid, with neighbours seeing her around the area with many different injuries including black eyes, cuts to the lip, a cauliflower ear, bruising to the face and body, and a heavy limp.
Specific attacks were also seen with the court hearing how neighbours witnessed Becky Reid attacking Lyndsey in the street more than once.
On one occasion, Lyndsey tried to walk away, but Becky punched her in the face, and she fell to the floor, pleading with her to stop. Becky continued to attack her and stamped on her face and body, whilst Lyndsey lay in the road.
On another occasion, Lyndsey was standing in front of her house and Becky Reid was in the doorway. She attacked Lyndsey, punching and kicking her as she lay on the pavement, before dragging her into the house.
Senior Investigating Officer Bob Tonge of GMP’s Major Incident Support Unit said “Lyndsey Vaux was subjected to years of horrific domestic abuse at the hands of her girlfriend, and no decision made here today can bring her back.
“Some neighbours knew about this abuse and did nothing. Had they given us the information that they gave us after Lyndsey’s murder then we could have saved her life, and this should act as a stark reminder that we all have a responsibility to stand up to this kind of crime.
“We’re working extremely hard to tackle domestic abuse in the LGBT community, having introduced a specific recording method to track it and taking our front line officers through training on how best to support victims, but we do need the public’s help to continue to tackle domestic abuse in all of our communities.
“My thoughts are with Lyndsey’s family at this difficult time, and I hope this sentence goes some way to finding them justice.”
We take all reports of domestic abuse extremely seriously. Victims in the LGBT community, and those worried about member of the LGBT community, can call Galop on 0800 999 5428.
Female victims, and those worried about women, can call the Greater Manchester Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0161 636 7525. Male victims, and those worried about men, can call The Mens Adviceline on 0808 801 0327 or can visit www.mensadviceline.org.uk.
“Greater Manchester’s multi-agency response to same sex DA, has also invested in a specialist LGBT Independent Domestic Violence Advisor, who works from Independent choices.