A former British Olympic swimmer has been sentenced to prison after injuring his fiancée so severely she fractured her skull and permanently lost hearing in one of her ears.
James Disney-May, 30, told Eleanor Cooke to kill herself before dragging her away from the edge of their 12th-floor apartment’s balcony with so much force that she fractured her skull, according to The Daily Express.
Disney-May, who swam on the British men’s 400 freestyle relay at the 2012 Olympics in London, was arguing with Cooke over a £9,000 rent bill ($10,939 USD) for their south London apartment that The Daily Express reports is worth £1 million.
Disney-May unintentionally caused the injuries as he pulled Cooke over a glass balcony railing, Kingston Crown Court heard.
She is believed to have hit her head on the floor during the incident, which took place on July 1 of this year, causing multiple facial fractures, two brain bleeds, bruising on the face, neck, and chin, and the permanent loss of hearing in her right ear.
Disney-May, who has a high-paying job with the City of London, admitted to GBH (Grievous Bodily Harm) in November and was sentenced to 21 months in prison with 18 months suspended on Monday morning. That means he will serve three months in prison, with the remainder of the sentence being deferred for a period of probation. If he fulfills the conditions of that probation, he won’t be required to
The court heard that in the months leading up to the incident, Disney-May was going out most nights drinking and taking drugs, and “feared losing his high-paying job for the city.”
Prosecutor James Lofthouse said Disney-May had a “high opinion of himself” and that his relationship with Cooke at times included him belittling her.
The court heard he would threaten to leave his partner, calling her “lazy, stupid, disgusting and useless” as well as a “problem woman”.
On the night of July 1, Disney-May and Cooke were out for drinks before returning to the apartment, owned by Cooke’s parents, around 11:30 pm, Lofthouse said.
“Both were in a good mood, both had had a drink,” Lofthouse said. “She recalled that morning she had left a note about paying rent. Despite his means and income they now owed £8,000 to £9,000 to her parents.
“She believed she probably brought this up again and this was what led him to lose his temper. He called her a wh**e and slapped her. She mentions that is when she decided to start an audio recording on her phone,” Lofthouse continued.
“What was said over that 40 minutes makes for very difficult listening. Over the course of (the) recording, we say Mr. Disney-May can be heard to slap Miss Cooke again. He mercilessly and maliciously belittled, goaded and abused her.”
The Court heard that Disney-May told Cooke: “You can go on holiday and jump off a f*****g cliff for someone else. You can’t meet many people who want you. You will be dead in a week killing yourself.
“See you later, f*****g jump off. Everyone will laugh as you jump, everyone will literally laugh as you jump. No one will remember you. No one will give a f**k about you.”
Lofthouse said it was “foreseeable” that Cooke would react by dangling herself off the balcony as it was “merely what he goaded her to do.”
Neighbors heard Cooke shouting “Shall I go then?” and called the police. Once they arrived, she had been dragged off the balcony leaving a trail of blood through the apartment.
On the audio recording, Disney-May can be heard asking Miss Cooke what to do when police are knocking on the door, saying: “F**k it’s the police. What should we do? I’m not opening it.”
When officers were eventually let in, she was found lying on the bed with her hair covered with blood, the court heard.
Cooke released a statement following the incident:
“James was a trusted member of my family who my mother and father took in as one of their own and he has completely betrayed that trust,” she said.
“The incident was a complete shock to me. I was completely in love with James, we were engaged and I trusted him implicitly. When I woke up in the hospital, I didn’t believe hospital staff or police who told me I was the victim of domestic violence.
“Even though I can’t remember the incident, the consequences of it will live with me for the rest of my life.
“I have anxiety about going out and meeting new people as I have paranoia about people knowing what happened and asking me questions about it. I have trust issues and am fearful about being out on my own.
“I have concerns for any future personal relationships as I have lost a lot of faith in men in general.“I think James will be a constant threat to me and my family. He comes from a very privileged background and had a very well-paid job in the city.
“This will affect his life going forward and I’m worried he will blame me and carry out some retribution towards me and my family.”We were in a loving relationship when this happened. If he is able to do this to someone he loves then I dread to think what he can do to someone he doesn’t like.”
When handing Disney-May his sentence, Judge John Lodge said: “He mocked her life, he mocked her attractiveness, he mocked her past and he did not hold out a great deal of hope for her future.”
A restraining order banning Disney-May from contacting Cooke was also made and he was ordered to pay £2,000 towards prosecution costs.
In addition to representing Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Disney-May also won a pair of medals for England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, earning gold as a prelim member of the men’s 400 medley relay and adding a bronze in the 400 free relay.
A native of Surrey, England, Disney-May attended the highly-regarded Millfield School prior to heading to Auburn University for his collegiate career, swimming four years for the Tigers from 2010-2014.
During his time at Auburn, Disney-May won two NCAA titles in the men’s 200 free relay (2013) and 400 free relay (2014), and was a 12-time All-American overall as well as a seven-time SEC champion.
He last swam competitively in 2017, representing Chelsea & Westminster SC at the 2017 BUCS Championships in Sheffield.
Well I guess he lost his job know and his gfs parents will not be housing him anymore. It’s strange how he can’t afford rent when he comes from an affluent background and has a nice job
#LockHimUp
James was a tool in college sadly this isn’t surprising. Should have gotten a lot longer then 21 months.
Unfortunately went to school with him and seems like he’s the same person only worse what with the bullying (especially those from a less privilege background) and thinking highly of himself! Was not surprised reading what I read. Tragic he got off lightly with the sentencing.
Karma is a bitch
What kind of city job affords a 10k flat?
City in the UK is short hand for City of London, equivalent of a Wall Street job in the US.
That number is not the monthly rent but an accumulated debt. The article doesn’t state the monthly rent amount. But I imagine that $1M doesn’t buy a whole lot in London.
My understanding is that her parents owned it so that is possibly a steep discount to the market rate
I’ve never known of anyone who encouraged someone else to commit suicide who wasn’t a sociopath. Michelle Carter is the most famous recent case, but there have been others. A fellow named William Melchert-Dinkel was convicted in 2011 of the same, he had entered into fake suicide pacts (meaning, he had no intention of killing himself) with at least ten other people whom he met online, and he gave them detailed instructions on how to go about it. Ted Bundy himself actually worked at a suicide hotline when he was a college student; he’s not known to have actually encouraged anyone to commit suicide, but given what else we know about him, it seems fairly obvious that he took the… Read more »
3 months in prison for multiple skull fractures, injuries so severe as to cause brain bleed, active and violent encouragement of suicide based on bullying (that was inches away from the act being committed), and a permanent loss of hearing? Does the UK have any sense of justice at all? Damn bro, looking to commit a crime? Just head there!
I hope she sues him for millions. Or is that not a possible remedy in clownland either?
Sadly in the uk, if you have money, you don’t get sentenced what you should
Only three months served in prison?! Can someone tell me if that’s a norm in the UK for sentencing — that sounds astonishingly low given the nature of this attack (and audio evidence, police report, etc.). How brutal. Wishing Ms. Cooke a full physical/emotional recovery.
Like most of Europe sentences here are far less severe than the US, but this does seem abnormally lenient.
USA is heading in the same direction
Yeah, this is low for GBH but he’ll have has a good brief. First offence, previous good character, sounds like actual GBH occurred during pulling her back (not the slaps), it’s not way out of line.
Hopefully they send him to a prison like Wakefield where he’ll get suitably well treated by fellow inmates.
Not sure about sentencing in UK, but they can feel unjust anywhere. Recall that Stanford guy.
Do you mean convicted rapist Brook Turner?
I imagine he/his rich parents had some influence
I can’t help but imagine Mickey Mouse doing this
Um, okay? I get his last name is Disney but what possessed you to comment something so insensitive/stupid?
Rare Demarrit Steenbergen L
Bro are you serious there is a time for joking and this is not the time for that the lady about killed herself.