'My online date beat me to a pulp'

[Jazzy]

A mother-of-two has warned against the dangers of internet dating after being beaten up by a salesman just weeks after meeting him online.

Birmingham Airport worker Susan Hulbert, 31, from Chelmsley Wood, also blasted magistrates after her attacker Gavin Taylor, 34, from Telford, Shropshire, walked free from court and was ordered to pay just £125 in compensation.

Pretty Miss Hulbert met Taylor, a high-flying salesman who claimed to be a former policeman, on popular dating website plentyoffish.com last December.

But he went from being a perfect gentlemen to a brutal thug when he launched a violent attack on terrified Miss Hulbert, breaking her cheekbone and leaving her hospitalised.

Now Taylor, 34, has been sentenced to a two-year community order at court and given a restraining order, banning him from contacting Susan or entering Chelmsley Wood.

The airport worker has now spoken out to warn other women about Taylor and the perils of internet dating.

Miss Hulbert said: 'Gavin was so clever. He treated me like a princess, I thought I knew him and it turns out I never really knew him.

'You don't know who you're meeting, they could be anybody. I'll never use a dating site again.'

Miss Hulbert was contacted by Taylor, from Telford, soon after joining the free plentyoffish.com website.

After texting each other every day, the pair eventually met on a Sunday afternoon in a Solihull pub in the West Midlands on 20 February.

Miss Hulbert said: 'When we met he seemed nice. We didn't kiss on the first date and I thought he was a gentleman for that.'

The couple started 'seeing' each other properly, bu Miss Hulbert began to feel a creeping suspicion that the salesman wasn't the prince charming he appeared.

'He would get really angry with things, the police especially, but never with me,' she said. He plays bowls and I went to watch him play a match and I was getting scared with how angry he was getting.'

The mask finally slipped on April 21 while Miss Hulbert was staying at her new boyfriend's Telford home in Shropshire.

She quizzed him on why he was still receiving messages from the dating website and texts from an unknown person - and he exploded in rage.

'He hit my head against the wall, and I slipped down and started crying,' Miss Hulbert said. 'He started punching me in my face. I had bruises all over my hands and face from where I tried to protect myself.'

She was taken to hospital with a fractured cheekbone, large bumps to the head and bruising across her face and body.

Full article with pictures

She saw the warning signs but decided to ignore them and stay with this guy. I don't blame the dating website for any of this. She could have just as easily met him in a club or even at work. I don't agree with the "slap on the wrist" this guy got. He should have at least done some jail time for assault and battery.

I guess the lesson to be learned here is go with your gut instinct before winding up like she did.

What are your thoughts?

 

[The Dragon Master]

Lesson learnt from this is that go with your gut instinct. If someone doesn't seem right to you, run the other way.

 

[Evil Eye]

Seems like he got off pretty easy.

She could have just as easily met him in a club or even at work.

My thoughts exactly.