Disgusting text messages from vile abuser who beat, raped and locked his ex-partner in a dog cage

The disgusting messages a man sent to his then-partner, whom he beat, raped and locked in a dog cage, have been revealed.

Connor Jay McLachlan sent his partner numerous threatening voice and text messages and regularly showed up at her home to subject her to a horrific tirade.

On several occasions he also forced his way into her apartment.

In a voice message, he said: “You now have options to help yourself. Help me help you, because I cannot control myself, as you already know.”

“I’m not turning around, nothing’s stopping me. So call me now while I’m still calm, before I lose my head.”

In others, he said: “Remember actions are reactions” … “This is the last time I’m staying calm” … “I’m serious, I’m not playing games” … “I promise you, I’m not joking” … “You think you’re smart blocking my phone number, blocking me on Facebook, blocking me on Snapchat. I’m shaking now, remember later, just you wait.”

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was bombarded with messages from McLachlan every time she tried to end the relationship, while he constantly stood at her door and would not take no for an answer.

He also spread news about her on social media.

Although she suffered physical, emotional and sexual violence, she said, “It was easier to live with the abuse than to endure the negative reactions from him.”

“It was easier to just keep quiet.”

McLachlan succeeded in isolating her from her friends and family and encouraged her to distance herself from the systems that supported her.

He also blamed her for the violence he had committed against her and made her believe that it was her fault that he could not control himself.

He put me in the kitchen and made me act like a dog. He spat on me, put me in the cage and treated me like a dog.

McLachlan’s sacrifice

McLachlan also said it was her fault that he beat and raped her, and that she deserved to be forced to behave like a dog and be spat on.

The woman managed to cut off contact with him for two weeks, but on the day she returned home he showed up and tried to force his way in, Wales Online reports.

She said: “At the time, I reported it because I thought, ‘He’s going to kill me.'”

McLachlan, 28, of Port Talbot, was arrested in September 2023.

He was found guilty at Swansea Crown Court on 11 counts ranging from criminal damage to controlling or coercive behaviour to rape.

He was found not guilty on two counts of intentional strangulation and rape.

McLachlan was sentenced to an extended term of 13 years and three months in prison on April 25, 2024.

He has to spend more than a decade behind bars.

He pulled my hair and strangled me. I thought he was going to kill me in the alley next to my house.

McLachlan’s sacrifice

He was also given a lifetime restraining order prohibiting him from having any contact with his victim.

Although McLachlan is now in prison, she says she is still very afraid of her former partner.

She said she couldn’t sleep, suffered from anxiety and flashbacks, and was still scared.

The controlling or compulsive behavior began almost immediately in their relationship.

He took her phone and answered her friends’ messages so she couldn’t talk to them.

At first she didn’t realize what was going on, and even though other people told her things, she just dismissed it.

She admitted that the situation worsened when she moved away and had no friends nearby and was not allowed to see anyone.

At one point, he isolated her completely and called her “nonstop.” She had to answer immediately, otherwise he would go to her house and “go for it.”

She claims that he even physically attacked her in public.

She said: ‘He beat me up one night after we had a drink.

“He pulled me by my hairstrangled me, I thought he was going to kill me in the alley next to my house. He didn’t care about being in public.”

She claims he strangled her and ransacked her house before drunkenly forcing her into his car and taking her to his grandmother’s house, where he raped her.

Once he threatened her with a machete hair and said he was going to kill her, she claims.

She tried to escape by climbing out a window, but he dragged her back inside.

When they finally went to bed, he raped her, she says.

After another violent incident, he forced her to go home covered in bruises, wearing torn clothes and without a phone.

His ex-partner added that he had constantly threatened to harm or kill her and that he had been “looking for trouble.”

According to her statement, he told her that he did these things to her because he loved her.

“Stuck and trapped”

She added that although she had tried to leave him “so many times,” he still found her and she was “stuck and trapped.”

The woman said: “It got to the point where it was every other day or even every day.”

“He put me in the kitchen and forced me to behave like a dog. He spat on me, locked me in a cage and treated me like a dog.”

Because of her injuries, she rarely left the house. When she did, it was often only to take her children to school and then drive straight back home.

She courageously gave her testimony during a five-day trial in Swansea Crown Courtan event she described as “terrifying.”

The woman gave her testimony from behind a board so she didn’t have to see his face, but she wanted to show the jury how small she was in comparison to McLachlan.

Because he had taken away so much of her self-confidence, she believed he would get away with it even in a court of law.

She added that she is now speaking out publicly so that people know who he is and to prevent this from happening to anyone else.

The woman said, “And because I also have to get over it and realize that it wasn’t my fault. I want to help other people too.”