Mother of man convicted of abusing his partner before she took her own life is under police investigation
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Ryan Wellings has been found guilty of assault and prolonged domestic violence towards Kiena Dawes, but cleared of her manslaughter. The mother and girlfriend of a man convicted of abusing his partner before she took her own life are both under police investigation for allegedly “coaching” him to give evidence.
![[Kiena Dawes took her own life and blamed her partner]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/13/12/50476fb74c146aa20f4f21cec598ecb3Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM2NTA5NTkz-2.78266308.jpg)
Kiena Dawes, 23, had written a suicide note saying, “Ryan Wellings killed me”, before leaving their nine-month-old daughter with a friend and taking her own life on a railway line on July 22, 2022. Wellings, 30, had denied manslaughter but became the first defendant to be tried before a jury accused of the unlawful killing of his partner after her suicide following domestic violence.
![[Ms Dawes had made multiple calls to the police]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/13/12/kiena.jpg)
On Monday Wellings was found guilty of assault and prolonged domestic violence towards Ms Dawes, but cleared of her manslaughter. Now it has emerged that before a jury was brought back into court on the first day back after Christmas during the six-week trial, Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, told the judge there had been “developments” during the break.
Wellings, being held at HMP Preston, was in the middle of giving evidence – and while entitled to speak to family and friends, he was not legally allowed to discuss his case with them. But it had emerged the prosecution had been told about “calls” between the defendant and his mother, Lisa Green, and current girlfriend, Emma Croft, who had both attended the trial to support Wellings from the public gallery.
