A 45 year old man from Middleton has been jailed for 24 years after being found guilty of multiple rapes, sexual assault, and other domestic abuse related offenses of five women in Greater Manchester
Andrew Ellison of Searness Road was charged with several counts of rape, sexual assault by penetration, false imprisonment, threats to kill, harassment with fear of violence, exposure, actual bodily harm, attempt sexual assault by touching and criminal damage over a 25-year period against multiple victims.
The case came about when police received a catalogue of rape and domestic abuse disclosures from a woman in her 30’s in Middleton just over a year ago
Following his arrest, police unearthed a further four women who had been domestically abuse dating back to 1995.
Detective Constable Marshall Trower of GMP’s Rochdale District said: “Firstly, I want to acknowledge all five victims who suffered years and years of sustained abuse at the hands of this man. The last few months has been such a distressing process for them throughout this long and difficult investigation and trial.
“From 1995 to present day, Andrew Ellison terrorised, tortured, and abused these women. Within a few months of his relationships with these women, he would subject them to vile verbal and physical abuse and make these women believe that they were at fault. The abuse then escalated further and further so much so they were controlled and lost all confidence in themselves. They felt trapped in this cycle of abuse and felt extremely alone and vulnerable.
“All the victims spoke of how he was nice to them all for the first couple of months, but his obsessive and aggressive nature escalated rapidly, and he took his aggression out in the vilest of ways. One of the victims would be beaten with a specially engraved bat that had “Andy E” carved on it. Ellison would describe this as being his ‘Friend’ and would use this and horrific violence to control the victim, often forcing her to stay in rooms alone as punishment.
“Four years of violent and sexual abuse kept the victim too scared to leave until with the support of her friends she was able to keep him out of her property long enough to have the locks changed. This didn’t stop Ellison’s efforts at controlling his victims. He would return unannounced and try to force entry kicking down the front door and strangling his ex-partner.
“Ellison’s chain of abuse continued through the 2000’s and 2010’s until he met his next partner. Ellison had now mastered his manipulation and abuse starting like always being the passionate, loving caring partner. This partner again described how he quickly became obsessive and controlling. Violent attacks soon followed with Ellison entering into ranting tantrums where he would try to smash her phones or kick her to the ground.
“This victims abuse did not go unnoticed and work colleagues spotted black eyes and strangulation marks. Ellison was quick to turn this around and would blame these incidents on the victims calling them ‘Mad’ and ‘hysterical’. This abuse got worse with the victims suffering deeming sexual assaults and constant verbal abuse.
“I commend all the victims for their bravery throughout this investigation and for having the courage to report this information. Because of one woman’s report, we were able to unearth Ellison’s previous violent and horrific history of domestic abuse of his previous partners.
“Andrew Ellison’s crimes are horrific and his lack of remorse for all five women and their welfare is despicable. He is an extremely dangerous individual who fully deserves the sentence imposed on him today. I truly hope that the sentence of this dangerous individual brings some form of peace to all the victims and their loved ones.”
