Robert Easom, 57, bullied and abused Trudi Burgess for seven years before the final attack at his home in Chipping that left her paralysed from the neck down
Rachel Smith Court reporter and Laura Hill
21:09, 27 Feb 2026Updated 21:10, 27 Feb 2026
Robert Easom has been jailed for 20 years
A brutal attacker who left his partner paralysed after flying into a rage and breaking her neck has been sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
Robert Easom, 57, subjected Trudi Burgess to seven years of bullying and abuse before the final assault on February 17, 2025. Preston Crown Court was told how Trudi, 57, a languages teacher, was recently widowed and emotionally fragile when she encountered Easom – a landscape gardener employed by her sister.
The couple rapidly began a relationship, but Easom was ‘coarse’ and regularly ridiculed Trudi’s professional career, prosecutor Sarah Magill told the court. He professed to be from ‘farming stock’ and ‘a countryman’ and told Trudi ‘did not know what a real man was like’.
During their time together, Easom exhibited a vicious side which he referred to as ‘the monster within. ‘ He cautioned Trudi against waking the monster, Ms Magill said.
Trudi Burgess met Easom when he was working as a landscape gardener
On one instance, whilst staying at an Airbnb near York, he throttled her with a bed sheet. In another incident at his residence in Chipping, he smashed her head against every step after she knocked over a glass of wine, reports Lancs Live.
Just prior to the final assault, the couple rowed about having friends round for dinner owing to Easom’s shortage of crockery and unwillingness to purchase more. He sped dangerously in his vehicle as Trudi yelled at him to halt, before seizing her and scraping his stubble down her face, leaving grazes.
Trudi Burgess worked as a teacher of languages(Image: Handout)
On February 17, Trudi informed Easom she wouldn’t be present when he got back from work, believing the relationship had run its course. Easom ‘flew into a rage’ with ‘superhuman strength’ and forced Trudi’s neck down into her body.
Whilst she begged him to stop, Trudi heard a snap as her vertebrae broke and sensation drained from her entire body. Easom rang the emergency services, initially suggesting she had tumbled out of bed and subsequently claiming they had been ‘mollycoddling’ and her injuries were unintentional.
At hospital, Trudi endured 11 hours of surgery before being transferred to the Critical Care Unit, where she remained for three months. For 10 weeks she was dependent on a ventilator and feeding tube.
Trudi Burgess has been left tetraplegic with paralysis from the chest down after a brutal attack at Easom’s Lancashire home.
Following her discharge from hospital, mum-of-two Trudi has been unable to go back to her family home in Chorley, and has spent the period in a specialist spinal rehabilitation unit.
She said: “Each day is a physical, emotional and mental battle. This injury is permanent. I will never get back the life I had. I now live with constant pain, with limitations and heartbreak.
“My children and granddaughter have lost the mother and grandmother they once had. I am left learning to live a life I didn’t choose – and would not wish on anyone.”
Easom, of Longridge Road, Chipping, pleaded guilty to ABH and controlling and coercive behaviour at Preston Crown Court. He was found guilty of GBH with intent by a jury.
Tobias Smith, defending, stated that Easom had led a ‘prosocial’ life, working diligently to earn a living and looking after his own son, who was quadriplegic following a car accident. He has integrated well within the prison environment and is employed in the horticultural department, he said.
Passing sentence, the Honorary Recorder of Preston, Judge Robert Altham, described Easom as a dangerous offender who presented a high risk to intimate partners.
He said: “Ms Burgess was obviously particularly vulnerable due to having been controlled and bullied and assaulted over a period of time by you.
“She was trapped in your home, in bed, in her bedclothes. Furthermore you applied extreme force to her neck. You bent her neck so hard it broke. She couldn’t speak as you did it.”
Trudi Burgess, 56, sobbed as she told how Robert Easom turned into the “Incredible Hulk” when she tried to end their relationship.(Image: Trudi Burgess/Instagram)
Judge Altham handed Easom a 16-year sentence with a four-year extended licence period. He must serve a minimum of two thirds of the sentence behind bars and will not be released without consultation with the Parole Board.
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