Daily Mail
June 20, 2014
A woman who was held captive for three days by her ex-boyfriend – who sheared her hair off as their children watched TV in another room – has spoken out about her nightmare ordeal.
Rebecca Watton, 29, of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, was in a relationship with Ian Hassen, 27, for eight years and the couple had three children together.
They split in December 2012 but she remained friendly with Hassen, a Zimbabwean. The pair met through friends and moved to Scotland in 2004.
However, it later emerged that Hassen refused to accept their relationship was at an end.
One night Hassen looked after the children at Ms Watton’s home while she went on a night out. She came home and Hassen left, but soon returned claiming he had missed his train.
He then attacked her as the pair sat watching television, pulling something tight around Ms Watton’s neck and then tying her up. He began interrogating her about where she had been and who she had seen.
‘I knew he had read my phone messages so I confessed I had met someone on the night out who had taken my number and asked me out on a date,’ she told The Daily Record.
Infuriated, Hassen kept her prisoner, assaulted her and threatened to kill her. He lay next to her in bed and watched her sleep.
After three days he dragged her out of bed, muttering that he was going to wait a week, but was going to do ‘it’ now.
Miss Watton thought he was going to murder her, but he instead began wordlessly clipping off her hair.