'Where's mummy?' - Kiena Dawes' mum reveals heartbreaking question she cannot answer to granddaughter

Ryan Wellings, 30, from Bispham, was found not guilty at Preston Crown Court earlier this week of the manslaughter of Kiena Dawes, 23, who prosecutors claimed killed herself after a campaign of domestic violence.

Kiena - a 23-year-old Fleetwood hairdresser, took her own life on a railway line in July 2022 after suffering years of domestic and physical abuse by Mr Wellings, leaving a note claiming he had "murdered her".

The 30-year-old landscape gardener, who denied all charges was found guilty of assault and coercive and controlling behaviour between January 2020 and July 2022 and has been sentenced to six years and an additional six months for an assault on a friend.

In an emotional statement read in court, Angela Dawes, who suffers with nightmares, said: “My granddaughter has already asked me where her mummy is.

“I have found it impossible to answer that question.

“I have had to sit through an almost six-week trial and watch the private life of my daughter pulled apart and her mental health scrutinised and assessed. She has been violated.

“Watching videos of her crying and upset whilst also pregnant or cuddling her baby has been horrific.

“Ryan Wellings has put me through all that. He could have pleaded guilty to the offences and we would never have faced all that, with the eyes of the public on us all. This has been a trauma in itself.”

Miss Dawes's grandmother Irene Ball called Kiena a ‘very beautiful, kind and happy girl’ and added that all her granddaughter wanted out of life was to be happy.

Miss Dawes' brother, Kynan Dawes, in his statement, added that a small comfort was that wellings will now spend the rest of his life ‘being viewed as an abuser and person who beats up women’.

He said: "I want people to see that domestic violence is not OK and men should respect their partners by showing them nothing but love and kindness.

"I do feel that justice has been served. Kiena wanted Ryan Wellings to be held responsible for what he put her through and, perhaps more importantly, the world now knows what a monster he is."