A violent serial abuser who kidnapped and terrorised two women he met on dating apps has been jailed for 16 years after a judge ruled he poses a ‘very high risk of serious harm to women’.
Phillip Mensah, 41, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court to 11 years in prison with a five-year extended licence after being convicted of multiple serious offences against two separate women.
The court heard that Mensah has 23 previous convictions for a total of 74 offences, many involving violence in a domestic context.
Judge Moore said Mensah’s offending showed a long-standing and deeply concerning pattern of coercive, controlling and violent behaviour, warning that if he were released into the community without strict supervision, the risk of serious harm would be ‘imminent’.
In relation to the first victim, Mensah was convicted of kidnap, false imprisonment and assault occasioning actual bodily harm following an ordeal in September 2022, just days after they met on the dating app Thursday.
They had known each other for around ten days when Mensah became jealous, possessive and controlling while she was on holiday with friends, accusing her of sleeping with other men and demanding access to her phone.
During one incident, he took her phone to search for evidence of infidelity and, after finding messages between her and a male friend, hurled it at her car window with such force that it smashed. He called her a ‘slag’ and subjected her to a torrent of vile abuse.
Phillip Mensah, 41, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court to 11 years in prison with a five-year extended licence after being convicted of multiple serious offences against two separate women
Later that evening, he again accused her of cheating, forcing her to sit on the sofa while he paced the room, screaming at her.
The court heard Mensah waved a wine glass in her face before striking her with a lighter from a gas fire. He then went into the kitchen, retrieved a knife and began threatening her.
Despite his victim pleading that he was frightening her, he refused to stop. As she shouted in fear, he dragged her into the downstairs bathroom in an attempt to silence her.
While blocking her exit in the bathroom, he placed his hand around her neck, held the knife close to her face and told her: ‘I’m going to stick this in your face and carve up that pretty face of yours.’
She told the court that she had to cover her mouth in fear he would cut her, describing herself as ‘terrified’ as he threatened her son and ex-partner and said he would get others to ‘finish her off’.
The ordeal continued for hours as after that Mensah forced her to drive around south London, stopping at various addresses, collecting cash, and intimidating her by suggesting he had a gun and searching for duct tape and a tarpaulin.
At one point, he told her they were going to ‘play with the guns’, prompting her to ask if he was going to kill her.
Mensah replied: ‘I don’t know – I haven’t decided yet.’
‘I absolutely believed he would kill me that day,’ she told the court.
In a victim impact statement, she said the attack destroyed her life, leaving her suffering physically, emotionally and mentally.
She now struggles with insomnia, flashbacks, panic attacks and deep depression, including suicidal thoughts, and takes antidepressants.
She was forced to leave the home she had lived in for a decade and move into a council flat. Her son had to move in with his father because she did not feel she could protect him – something she described as her ‘biggest heartbreak’.
She reduced her work, cannot use public transport alone, gave up her pets and finds even basic daily tasks ‘debilitating’.
Maidstone Crown Court. The court heard that Mensah has 23 previous convictions for a total of 74 offences, many involving violence in a domestic context
Mensah went on to attack a second woman in August 2024, just weeks after his release from prison for a separate offence for trying to drive his car into door staff outside of a club in 2020.
In relation to his second victim, he was convicted of threatening a person with an offensive weapon or bladed article in a private place, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and intentional strangulation.
The pair had been in a relationship for around three weeks after meeting online. The court heard Mensah repeatedly sought reassurance, asking: ‘You won’t leave me, will you?’
During the attack, while her teenage son slept upstairs, Mensah took her phone, accused her of sleeping with another man, called her a ‘whore’ and a ‘liar’, and repeatedly struck her around the head and face.
One blow caused her to fall to the floor feeling dizzy, but he repeatedly shouted at her to get up and threatened to put her into a coma and to attack her mother.
His violence escalated as he strangled her, interrupting her breathing, before going to a knife drawer and holding a blade close to her face, saying he would cut her up and slice her face open.
Fearing for her life and her child’s safety, she managed to escape during a brief opportunity and called 999, fleeing to her mother’s home.
Sentencing Mensah, Judge Moore said the similarities between the two attacks were ‘striking’ and demonstrated a repeated pattern of violence driven by jealousy, control and fear of abandonment.
Despite Mensah showing some remorse and completing domestic abuse courses in custody, the judge said it was ‘far too little and far too late’.
‘You are assessed as posing a high risk to women – a very high risk of serious harm,’ Judge Moore said.
‘At least 21 previous partners have alleged abuse by you. If you were released into the community, the risk of harm would be imminent and serious.’
Mensah was sentenced to a total of 16 years, comprising 11 years’ imprisonment and a five-year extended licence, designed to protect the public upon his eventual release.
One of the victims ended her statement with a message to her attacker, saying: ‘I hope my presence here makes you reflect deeply on accountability, responsibility and morality as a human being. I remain stoic in my trust in justice – and I am proud that I have seen this through.’
