A controlling boyfriend who flushed his partner’s rabbit down the toilet will spend Christmas behind bars after being caught on the run in Thailand.
Nicholas Cash, 26, was arrested in the Asian country on Tuesday after three years missing and now faces extradition back to the UK.
He had carried out a nine-month campaign of sustained abuse against former partner Olivia Croft in 2020, which included disposing of her pet.
The thug claimed he was too ill to attend his trial in Bournemouth in October 2022 – but then fled 6,000 miles to Thailand with a new partner.
Cash was found guilty in his absence of controlling or coercive behaviour, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage and administering a poisonous or noxious substance with intent in February 2023 and later sentenced to eight years in prison.
The court heard during the relationship from February to November 2020, when Ms Croft was just 17, Cash had slashed her face with a piece of broken glass, locked her in their home and repeatedly shot her with a BB gun.
He also goaded her into taking an overdose before forcing a large number of pills down her throat.
When she started to gag, he phoned an ambulance, telling the operator she had attempted to take her own life.
Controlling boyfriend Nicholas Cash, pictured, flushed his partner’s rabbit down the toilet and will spend Christmas behind bars after being caught on the run in Thailand
He threatened to hurt Ms Croft and her family if she revealed the truth because she ‘wasn’t worth going to jail for’.
Cash gaslit his partner, turning her into a vulnerable and isolated young woman, the court heard.
He stopped her wearing makeup, monitored her mobile phone and social media use and showed up at her work to humiliate her in front of colleagues, causing her to lose two jobs.
He used other people to spy on her and even locked her in their home and removed door handles as well as installing CCTV to watch her.
When he was arrested Cash tried to paint himself as the victim, the court heard, but police refused to believe his story and charged him with engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour.
Cash claimed he was too ill to attend his trial in October 2022 and provided a doctor’s note.
He was also given a 19-month sentence in 2021, suspended for two years, for offences against another victim.
Judge Jonathan Fuller said Cash would be sentenced separately for breaching that suspended sentence and failing to attend his trial when he is extradited to the UK.
The thug pictured getting arrested in the Asian country on Tuesday. It came after he spent three years missing and he now faces extradition back to the UK
Since then, Dorset Police has worked with the National Crime Agency (NCA), the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Royal Thai Police in a relentless pursuit to track him down and arrest him.
Detective Constable Michael White, of Dorset Police, said: ‘We have worked tirelessly in the months and years since Nicholas Cash was convicted to establish his whereabouts and ensure he faces justice for his despicable offending.
‘This work has involved liaising with a range of national and international partners and I want to thank all those involved in tracking Cash down and apprehending him.
‘The key driver behind our relentless efforts has been the desire to seek justice for the victim and we have continued to keep her and her family updated with developments.
‘I hope this case sends a clear message to those trying to escape justice that we will explore all possible avenues to trace you and hold you to account for any offences committed and that international borders will not offer protection from the judicial process.’
Dan Newell, regional manager at the NCA, said: ‘Cash fled the UK with no regard for the devastating impact of his crimes, instead seeking to selfishly preserve his own freedom.
‘Together with partners at home and abroad we tracked him down and ensured he faced justice.
‘We hope Cash’s arrest and jailing will bring some relief to the victim. The NCA will continue to support our partners across the globe in tracking down perpetrators of domestic abuse and seeking justice for victims.’
After the case, Ms Croft, who has a new job as a carer, said: ‘The things he did to me were sickening but I was too scared to leave because I didn’t want him to hurt anyone else.
‘He relentlessly abused me, emotionally and physically. I had to be strong in the end as I knew it would just get worse and worse.
‘When I did finally leave he flushed one of my pet rabbits down the toilet, killing it. That was the last straw for me to go to the police.
‘It feels like a weight off my shoulders now it’s done but I don’t think it would have mattered how long he got.
‘It was really hard going through the trial, being questioned by his lawyer while he was living it up in Thailand.
‘I’m still unable to sleep. I have horrific nightmares about him coming to snatch me back. I feel emotionally blunted and numb most of the time. I have very serious trust issues and I’m very uncomfortable in social settings.
‘Before I was a social and outgoing person. I felt a part of the world I lived in and was comfortable in my own skin. He took all that away from me.’
In passing sentence in 2023, Judge Jonathan Fuller KC said: ‘The motive behind it was mean, callous and designed to humiliate [her] to the maximum.’
He said Cash showed ‘absolute cowardice’ by failing to face the complainant at trial.
Judge Fuller added: ‘He sought to cast himself as the victim, not the perpetrator. Nothing could be further from the truth.’
