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| Mitchinson: Denies Claims |
The terrified wife of a hedge fund boss, who denies “systematically bullying” her at their Knightsbridge home, says he smashed a glass over her head during yet another row.
Former Deutsche Bank derivatives expert Guy Mitchinson, 38, ran Castilium Capital with ex-Merrill Lynch trader Alicia Vidler, 37, who says she was a prisoner of her violent husband.
Isleworth Crown Court heard Mitchinson ignored Alicia’s painful arthritic condition as she rested at their £3.4m home, beating her with a pillow as she rolled herself into a ball.
“The next thing he smashed a glass on my head and it smashed everywhere, it was the crown of my head and there was glass in my hair and I could feel blood on my head.
“I made a run for it and got the front door open and saw the beautiful blue sky and houses, but he got me by the hand and swung me back into the house.
“I spent the next five hours trying to get past him, that’s what I was fixated on,” she added. “He said: ‘I’ll not let you do this to our marriage.’
“He said: ’No one is coming to rescue you.’ I begged twenty or thirty times to go to hospital and thought about climbing out the bathroom window, but there is an eighteen foot drop.”
Prosecutor Miss Caroline Paul told the jury: “This trial is about a man systematically bullying his wife in order to control her and he became more controlling and violent between January and July, last year.
“His wife became his virtual prisoner and he began to interfere with her medical care, forcing her into taking a course of medication when the the side effects were severe.
“He wanted her to put more hours into the business when she was sick and in a wheelchair and to travel abroad when unwell.
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| "Terrified": Alicia |
“He insisted on knowing her precise movements and would call her three to four times an hour to check in on her and insisted knowing all the passwords to her electronic devices.”
Alicia was an equity derivatives trader with Deutsche Bank in Sydney before moving to the UK, where she studied for a PhD in mathematics at Imperial College.
Privately-educated Alicia, who attended Sydney’s Ascham school, founded Mayfair’s Castilium Capital on January 19, 2012, with Mitchinson and the couple shared a home in First Street.
She told the trial: “He’d tell me before business meetings: ‘You’re going to have to get through this. You’re probably going to be crippled for life so you have to make this work.’
“Guy did not like me being seen with crutches or a walking stick and I’d leave them at reception. Flying makes it much worse, it’s very painful on the plane.”
The couple married in July, 2014, but Alicia said there were problems from the start.
“He hated me seeing my friends. I realised in a couple of months he always had a reason for me not to see my friends.
“He started asking for the passwords to every electronic device I had. He’d literally take them of me.
“He smashed my iPad screen because he’d snatched it out of my hand because he thought I was fidgeting with it and not paying attention to what he was saying and my BlackBerry got dented because of all the grabbing.
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| Not Guilty Plea: Mitchinson |
“It terrified me, it gave me no privacy. I felt I was being monitored, my personal thoughts are on them, my bank account details.
“I couldn’t get away from him, I couldn’t think straight. It scared me in the end and made me feel incredibly stressed.”
Mitchinson claims her allegations are invented and simply a way of getting out of the marriage and failing business partnership.
“His aggressive behaviour started escalating and he would grab her wrists and ankles, causing great pain due to her arthritis,” explained Miss Paul.
“He would rip pillows and duvets away when she was trying to rest to cause her pain and to prevent her sleeping. She used the pillows to support her neck.”
During one row she tried to leave, the jury were told. “Mr. Mitchinson slammed the door with such force the handle detached and she was fearful and afraid for her safety.
“He pulled her back by her handbag strap, blocked the doorway and slammed her against the wall and repeatedly kicked her in the legs, causing bruising to her elbows and knees.”
Alicia says the attack only halted when her husband was overcome with emotion. “He broke down and threatened to kill himself,” said Miss Paul.
There was another row before a matinee theatre trip with friends. “Mr. Mitchinson jabbed her in the stomach with a dinner plate, grabbed her by the arm and pushed her against the wall screaming insults.”
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| Marital Home Near Harrods |
The row continued when they returned home the court heard: “He attacked her with a pillow and she was in extreme pain and asked him to stop.
“She swung a glass at him and he struck her over the head with a tumbler, causing it to break and cut her head.”
Alicia told her GP on July 23 and Mitchinson was arrested and questioned. “He said she was intoxicated during the theatre outing and she threw the glass at him and he had to restrain her.”
Miss Paul told the jury: “He sought to control her whole life, her work, her sleep pattern her social life. She was, in effect, her husband’s prisoner.”
Mitchinson, of Holmdale Road, West Hampstead has pleaded not guilty to one count of controlling or coercive behaviour between January 1 and July 23, last year.
He also denies three counts of assaulting Ms Vidler at their home address on dates between January 10 and July 16.
He says the demise of Castilium prompted Alicia’s police complaint, which is “fabricated and exaggerated.”
Trial continues……….
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