My husband locked me in the house for two years and monitored my every move through Alexa – but he said I was imagining it

A woman has revealed how her abusive husband locked her in their house when he went to work for almost two years and monitored her every move through through their Alexa.

Wayne Wellings also forced his wife Carolyn Shepherd, 38, to open the window for delivery drivers because the front door of their home in The Wirral was locked, and he kept tabs on what she was up to using the family’s Alexa smart speaker. 

‘He’d dial in and listen silently, even though I could hear the noise from his workplace in the background. 

‘When I asked him about it, he’d say I was imagining it, trying to make me think I was going mad. It was his way of checking up on me every day and he did it for nearly two years.

‘Sometimes, he’d dial in and shout down the Alexa, to make sure I was at home, and I was alone. If I ever didn’t pick up his call or reply to a text message, he immediately dialled straight into the Alexa because he suspected I was being unfaithful, which was never the case.’

He’d also forced the mother-of-two to video her hen night hotel, proving she wasn’t having an affair. And he even attacked her in a jealous outburst on their wedding night in 2016, after she danced with a gay pal.

In violent rages, he squashed her face after she’d had cosmetic filler to make her lips burst. He would also spit on her make-up and smash her beauty products, accusing her of trying to look good for other men.

Last September Wellings was jailed at Liverpool Crown Court for five years after he was convicted of assaults and coercive control. 

‘I used to stay quiet, even when he was attacking me, because I felt that was best. Now I realise that finding my voice is the best thing I’ve ever done,’ Carolyn said.

‘I’m back at work, raising my children, and really enjoying my life.’

Carolyn, who works in the car industry, met Wellings 11 years ago online and within six months they had moved in together.

‘He was very intense, from the start, and wanted us to be together all the time,’ she recalled. ‘But I was flattered, I thought he really loved me. I was ready to settle down and he seemed like the perfect man.

‘The first night we moved into our new home, Wayne attacked me because he was drunk. He rubbed my face in the dog’s bowl and told me I was fat and I was a dog.

‘I felt so ashamed, I couldn’t bear to tell anyone. I’d borrowed money from my family to move into the house. And that set the pattern for the next eight years – I just kept quiet no matter what he did.

‘Wayne was abusive almost every day. He’d spit on me and rub his hand in my face to mess up my make up. He pulled out my hair extensions. He said I was a slut.

‘I had lip filler sometimes and he’d squash my lips until they burst which was agony.

‘He’d raise his hand and then laugh when I flinched, thinking he was going to hit me.’

The couple married in July 2016, with Carolyn hoping their wedding might be a new start.

She said: ‘I had a quiet hen do, a night away in Essex with two friends, but Wayne harassed me all night and made me video the hotel room to make sure there were no men in there.

‘On our wedding day he got drunk and vanished, and I had to do our last dance with a gay pal. Wayne went ballistic and attacked me on our wedding night, squeezing me round my throat.

‘He told me I deserved it and by now, I believed it. I thought I was completely worthless. He locked me in the house when he went to work, and if we had a delivery, I had to open the window. He monitored me through the Alexa which was downstairs. 

‘By now, my mum was calling me every day to make sure I was OK. She begged me to get help. I left him a few times, but he’d threaten to kill me, or my mum, and so I always went back. I was trapped.’

The couple had two sons, and on December 27 2020, when their second son was just weeks old, Wayne launched his final attack.

She says: ‘I took a work message from a male colleague and Wayne accused me of flirting. He went ballistic, pulling a curtain pole down and beating me. My mum turned up and something clicked. I realised enough was enough.’

Carolyn moved in with her mum, Christine, but it was another year before she felt strong enough to speak to the police.

In September Wellings was found guilty at Liverpool Crown Court on two counts of ABH and controlling/coercive behaviour. In November, he was jailed for five years.

Carolyn says: ‘I am so relieved he’s behind bars. I now have chance to look to the future. I’m back at work, I’m enjoying raising my sons, and life is better than it’s ever been.

For eight long and lonely years, I stayed quiet, because I felt that was best. Now I realise that finding my voice is the best thing I’ve ever done.

I only hope my story can be a lesson to someone else. Please speak out and get help. Silence is not the answer.’