Jealous brute who punched his girlfriend so hard her teeth went through her lip has been jailed

A jealous thug who punched a Middlesbrough mum so hard her teeth went through her lip has been jailed.

Suzie Harburn, 40, was repeatedly attacked and strangled by her former partner Dean Cameron.

Suzie says Cameron, 36, “just flipped” one morning as he grabbed her by the throat, grabbed her and slammed her to the side of the bed.

Suzie screamed for help and her son Jamie ran in to find Cameron standing next to his mother, already injured on the bedroom floor.

Suzie Harburn (pictured) was brutally attacked and repeatedly strangled by her former partner Dean Cameron

Cameron punched Suzie so hard her teeth went through her lip. Suzie screamed for help, and her son Jamie ran, only to find Cameron standing over his mother, as she lay injured on the bedroom floor.

Dean Cameron was jailed for two years. The couple met on Facebook and were together for over three years. Suzie says Cameron was lovely at first, but the “red flags started about four months in” when he started trying to control her.

Construction worker Cameron strangled Suzie and slammed her head against the bed frame three times that morning on August 7, 2021.

The single mother says she had nudged him and asked, “Why are you talking to me like that?” after she said she had been “giving me some pain” while they were in bed.

Suzie was left with a black eye and cuts and bruises.

However, despite suffering injuries, she did not end the relationship with Cameron, who she said could be “very nice and loving” but “went from 0 to 60 in seconds” if something bothered him.

“He wanted to leave so many times,” said Suzie, speaking after her ex-fiancé was jailed, “he apologized.” I gave him another chance. That should have been my cue to leave.

The couple met on Facebook and were together for over three years. Suzie says Cameron was lovely at first, but the “red flags started about four months in” when he started trying to control her.

Suzie is a single mum to Jamie, 19, who is at university studying for an HNC in Electrical Engineering.

Jamie is listening to her mother, who works as a tutor on an electrical course, say that her ex-fiancé “was all about control”.

“It was always a problem if I wanted to go out without him. I was scared if someone would text me when I was here at the weekends.

“He usually goes through my phone. He wouldn’t let me have a drink at home, if I was alone”.

The couple got engaged and were enjoying a weekend at Suzie’s Middlebeck home on November 27, 2022.

They were planning their wedding, when Cameron lost control and subjected Suzie to another attack. “We were going to get married in January 2023, because his nana was unwell.

Suzie is a single mum to Jamie (pictured) who is at university studying for an HNC in Electrical Engineering

“We had been shopping for engagement rings and booked the registry office. On Sunday, he started acting strange. He had had four cans of San Miguel.

“There were some splash marks on the kitchen surface and he asked about them.

“There was a golf ball in my car, he kept asking about it. Then he said, ‘Ignore me, Suze, I’m having a day off.’

Cameron then accused Suzie of “having someone in the house”.

She explained: “I was taking the washing machine out of the machine and there were some blue socks. I asked him if they were his. We didn’t know who they belonged to.”

“I said, ‘Are you kidding me? We’re getting married.” He exploded.

Cameron pushed his little partner up the stairs. She fought him off and managed to run out the front door.

Cameron left kicking Suzie’s car as he drove past. But he soon returned to find Suzie about to call her father.

‘He came back to find me on the stairs. I wouldn’t leave the house. He was calling me.

“He punched me hard in the face. When I came back I could taste blood in my mouth. I said, ‘I’m calling my dad’ and he choked me,” Suzie recalled.

Cameron had hit Mom so hard that her teeth had gone through the front of her lips. He needed stitches in hospital and struggled to eat for weeks afterwards.

He said he was left “shaky” after the attack and felt like a nervous wreck.

By pure chance, a neighbor had heard the screams when Cameron left the house and called the emergency services.

Neighbor CCTV captured Cameron startling Suzie’s car as he left, before he hit and strangled his fiance again.

On September 30, Suzie and Jamie took the day off to go to court and watch Cameron sentenced for both attacks.

Neither thought he would go to jail. ‘There was some kind of miscommunication. The usher told us to wait outside the room, to be called.

“We missed the audience. His new girlfriend came in, I know she’s by his side.

“I was very surprised when I heard the judge gave him two years. I’m happy. He was never going to learn. He deserves it.

Suzie was too embarrassed to speak up and tell people what was going on during the relationship.

“I was worried people might think I’m a bad mother if I reported him and it went public,” she says, “but if you’re in my situation, get help. The police will help.

“The strangulation in our relationship had become normal. If you’re in the position I was, talk to someone. If you can’t contact the police, talk to your friends.

Cameron admitted two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, at Teesside Crown Court.

His current partner wrote a character reference for him, and his lawyer said he had been drunk when he attacked Suzie.

Jailing Cameron for two years, Judge Chris Smith said the domestic abuse had been “disgusting” and the mental impact on Suzie “has been considerable”.

And the blue socks? ‘They were family friends. Jamie had borrowed them on Bonfire night because he stepped on something wet. He forgot that he had borrowed them.

‘The golf ball’? Suzie laughs now that she’s got her life back and feels confident, “that’s weird.”

“I find it on the front lawn and put it in the car, thinking I’m going to give this to my dad because he’s a great golfer. Dean was just looking for anything to start with.