Man who imprisoned partner in caravan guilty of coercive control
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A man who imprisoned and beat his partner, and forced her to wear a full face-covering to hide bruising, has been found guilty of coercive control, strangulation, unlawful wounding, actual bodily harm and fraud.
The court was told 67-year-old Antonio Villafane, also known as Anthony Manson – whom police had described as “a danger to women” – subjected his partner, Sally Ann Norman, 64, to seven years of violence.
The couple – who first met in 2015 – lived in a caravan off-grid on land near Tintern, Monmouthshire, before Mrs Norman left him in July 2022 after he tried to strangle her while forcing her to eat a Chinese meal.
Judge Daniel Williams told him he faces “a substantial prison sentence”.
Villafane, who described himself as a voice coach and musician, was emotionless as the verdict was read out on Wednesday. He was found not guilty of one charge of wounding with intent.
The jury of seven women and five men heard the relationship between Villafane and Mrs Norman developed rapidly after the pair met in Glastonbury town, where he was handing out leaflets for a singing workshop.
Mrs Norman married in 1989 and had two children, but left her husband and went to live in a van with Villafane, later using some of the £280,000 from her divorce settlement to buy land in the Wye Valley, Monmouthshire.
Their dream was to live an “off-grid” lifestyle, with Mrs Norman collecting water from a nearby stream and chopping wood for the fire as their new home did not have running water or electricity.
Mrs Norman told police she was punched, kicked, hit with a heavy walking stick and made to stay in the caravan for hours, often without food and water.
She described an occasion where Villafane tied her hands and feet before pushing her head into a toolbox filled with dirty water.
The court heard she was made to wear a full-face veil to hide the bruises he had caused.
Both were members of the Sufi religion, although the court was told female followers do not ordinarily wear a full-face covering. When other women in the community questioned her, Villafane told them it was between Mrs Norman and her god, and no one else.
Mrs Norman later said, “He was charming charismatic and loveable – I thought he was the one for me. I was taken in.”
Read more https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y4nppwd8jo
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