Abuser 'destroyed my life' and set home on fire

A woman from Cornwall has described her terror after her ex-boyfriend set fire to her home and subjected her to months of abuse.

Kat Wills, 44, and her son lost everything when her converted mobile home was destroyed on 29 December.

Ms Wills said she had endured 10 months of abuse leading up to the arson, saying: "Every time he said he loved me and he was sorry and he didn't mean to do what he did and he'd never do it again."

On Friday Shaun McCormick, 54, was jailed for six years at Truro Crown Court after admitting a string of offences against her and her property.

Standing beside the burned-out wreckage of her home, Ms Wills said she had been left shaken by what she had been through.

"It's been quite a horrific 10 months to be fair," she said.

She first met McCormick at a nightclub in Newquay many years ago, but started a relationship with him in November 2023 after seeing him playing pool at a pub in Goonhavern.

Ms Wills said at first she thought McCormick was "everything I ever thought I would ever want in a man".

"Then little cracks of alcohol, becoming drunk more often and then becoming verbally abusive, escalated to physical abuse in the end," she said.

In one incident the court heard she was chased naked through the countryside and thought she was going to be killed by her drunken boyfriend but managed to evade him.

McCormick had told her he had served in the armed forces and suffered trauma when his friend was blown up, but she now believes that was a lie.

"I always thought maybe his reasons for the way he was behaving was due to what he had been through. But only recently through his mum, I found out he was never in the army," said Ms Wills.

"Every time he said he loved me and he was sorry and he didn't mean to do what he did and he'd never do it again, he just lied.

"But in the end I couldn't put up with his behaviour and when we split up that's when he got really nasty."

In December 2024, McCormick sent Ms Wills threatening messages, so she and her son moved to her mother's home.

Two days later, McCormick set her converted mobile home on fire.

It had just been decorated and recarpeted, and had a conservatory with additional buildings.

"Everything I've ever worked for was in that caravan, all my son's toys, birth certificates, passports, my mum's wedding rings, a whole list of things that could never be replaced," Ms Wills said.

She said her son was devastated after losing all his toys, including a large collection of Christmas presents he had only just received.

She added her focus now was on rebuilding her life and career - she has been a registered nurse since 2008, and is now a clinical lead.

Last Friday Shaun McCormick, 54, of no fixed abode, appeared at Truro Crown Court and admitted eight charges, including arson, intentional strangulation, making threats to kill, assault, intimidation and three counts of criminal damage.

The court heard police arrested McCormick after finding him waiting at a bus stop after he had set light to Ms Wills' home.

He was jailed for six years and Judge Simon Carr told him: "Chronologically the first offence of strangulation you attacked Miss Wills, you told her you were going to kill her, she thought she was going to die.

"You beat her repeatedly and in order to escape she ran naked across fields, that was the distress she was in.

"Everything in her life has been taken away and she has to start again with nothing."

Speaking afterwards, Ms Wills said she was disappointed with the sentence.

She said: "Six years is not really long enough considering he's only going to have to serve four and the fact that he doesn't have to pay anything, to me he's just got away with it.

"He'll be out in four years for destroying mine and my son's life."

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