Video: My life of fear with depraved ex-lover

A MAN has revealed his life of fear with his ex-partner after he was jailed for 17 years for plunging a knife into another lover’s neck.
Daniel Richards, ex partner of Darren Scott. Picture: Ross Parry AgencyDaniel Richards, ex partner of Darren Scott. Picture: Ross Parry Agency
Daniel Richards, ex partner of Darren Scott. Picture: Ross Parry Agency

Darren Scott flew into an unprovoked knife frenzy stabbing a partner multiple times at a £2m Mayfair flat last summer, in a scene a prosecutor described as “straight out of a horror movie”.

Scott’s former partner Daniel Richards said today he dodged a close bullet and revealed his two-year torment while in a relationship with “psychopath” Scott, 26, who would go on to slash a lover’s throat and try to rip apart the wound.

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Mr Richards, from Hull, East Yorks., met manipulative Scott when they both studied

Daniel Richards, ex partner of Darren Scott. Picture: Ross Parry AgencyDaniel Richards, ex partner of Darren Scott. Picture: Ross Parry Agency
Daniel Richards, ex partner of Darren Scott. Picture: Ross Parry Agency

psychology at nearby Grimsby Institute in 2011.

“Being with Darren made me ill,” Mr Richards, 33, said.

“He was obsessive, controlling and sometimes violent. One morning, when I was suspicious about what he was up to, I grabbed his phone off him. He flew into this fit of rage attacking me and strangling me.

“I ran into the bedroom and locked myself in - he held me hostage there all day until my mum came home, when all of a sudden he was nice as pie again. He had been trying to bash his way in and I was terrified.

“I had tried to split up with him before but he wouldn’t leave me alone. He would create online profiles and stalk me to see what I was up to.

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“One time he threw stones at my window all evening when he told me he was out all night. Just to give me the creeps.”

Mr Richards said jobless crook Darren also used his money to pay for luxury holidays without his knowledge.

“I put up with his lies for all that time - he ripped me off, as well as my friends and family. He used my mother’s and friend’s credit cards and blew thousands on holidays and in shops.

“The papers said he was a psychology graduate. He never actually finished his psychology degree because he was badly organised and stopped getting his student loan. He ran out of money.

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“I told him to apply for jobs and he forged a job application. He used my mum’s credit card to book flights and told us he was going to Iraq to work on an oil rig.

“When he came back and had nothing to show, with no money for his “work” my mum got suspicious. We rang the credit card company and they told us he had booked these flights, although couldn’t tell us where to.

“That was the final nail in the coffin.

“We were staying with my mum at the time because of money, so she threw him out and I’ve not seen him since.”

Scott was also convicted for fraud in the trial, after the jury heard a bogus court compensation order for #420,000, forged bank statements, and a fake job offer from Procter and Gamble were found among his possessions.

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Unemployed Mr Richards, who says he has struggled to regain trust in others since being with psychologically abusive Scott, knew nothing of his later crimes until a friend showed him a newspaper report in February this year.

“I couldn’t believe it - I was stunned,” he said.

“My friend just said, ‘have you seen this about Darren?’ I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I thought that could have been me if had stayed in the relationship.

“My trust in men is not the same anymore. Luckily I’ve met someone else and moved on, but being with him was scary.

“I had to drop out of my degree when I was with Darren because being with him was making me ill. He didn’t finish his studies either - just because he was no good and messed it up.”

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Darren Scott was convicted of attempted murder and fraud at the Old Bailey last month.

He was sentenced to 17 years in prison at Cambridge Crown Court last Thursday after a judge said he was “intent on trying to take his victim’s life and he came very close to succeeding”.

Mr Richards said the conviction was “bound to happen” branding his ex a “constant liar”.

“Hopefully the 17 years aren’t just for this awful crime, but how he’s treated other people as well”, he added.