A woman who feared her abusive husband would kill her has spoken of her terror after discovering he is set to be released from prison early.
Claire Milne said she spent years enduring coercive and controlling behaviour, intimidation, threats and financial abuse during her eight-year relationship with Robert Dales.
The 36-year-old Brit described threats against her life shortly before she eventually found the strength to leave.
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Now faced with Dales’ early release from prison, Claire is concerned about what the future may hold.
“When he was sentenced, I felt as though I could finally start rebuilding my life,” she told Need To Know.
“For the first time, there was a physical barrier between us, and I believed I had a period of time where I could begin recovering without constantly wondering what was going to happen next.
“I knew that no sentence could undo what had happened to me, but I took comfort from knowing there would be a period where he was in prison and I could rebuild my life.
“I became aware that his release date could change through information about the new release arrangements and then sought clarification through my Victim Liaison Officer.
“I felt sick.
“It felt as though the clock had suddenly been moved forward.
“I had built my recovery around believing I had until around February, and suddenly I was being told that the person I had spent so long trying to escape could be back in the community months earlier.
“For somebody looking at it from the outside, a few months might not seem significant.
“When you are a victim of domestic abuse, those months of knowing there is a physical barrier between you and the person who harmed you can mean everything.
“What has been particularly difficult is discovering that the period of safety I thought I had is now considerably shorter than I had prepared myself for.”
The abuse Claire experienced took place between 2018 and 2025.
The couple had met in 2016 through work and started a relationship in 2018, a time when Claire describes him as “charming, attentive and loving”.
They married in 2019.
She said: “There weren’t immediately obvious signs that the relationship would become what it eventually became.
“It wasn’t an overnight change.
“Looking back, behaviours gradually became more controlling and abusive over the years.
“It escalated significantly towards the end of the relationship, particularly after I had my baby.
“Towards the end, particularly after I had given birth, things became extremely volatile and frightening.
“There were threats against my life.
“It wasn’t one isolated incident – it was a pattern of behaviour that escalated over a number of years.
“People didn’t know the full extent of what was happening.
“I became very good at presenting a version of my life to the outside world that looked normal, while behind closed doors things were very different.
“By the end, I genuinely believed that if I stayed, either I would end my own life or he would eventually kill me.”
After reaching a point where she believed staying in the relationship could cost her life, Claire left in April 2025 and reported Dales to the police.
Dales was arrested in August 2025 and later pleaded guilty to coercive and controlling behaviour in an intimate or family relationship and possessing an offensive weapon in a private place, including samurai and ninja swords.
He was sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court in March 2026 to three years in prison, a surcharge of £170, a restraining order and forfeiture and destruction order of weapons.
Having already spent around six and a half months on remand, Claire had been preparing for him to remain behind bars until around February 2027.
But she has now been told that he is expected to be released during the week commencing November 9, under the new early prison release arrangements.
Claire said she wants greater reassurance about what will happen when someone who has been convicted of abusing their partner is released earlier than the victim had anticipated.
She said: “My biggest concern is my safety.
“I know what I experienced and what he was capable of during our relationship.
“Prison has provided a physical barrier.
“Once that barrier disappears, I have to live with that uncertainty again.
“What I want from the wider system is clarity about monitoring and licence conditions, meaningful communication with victims and protection that reflects individual risk.
“I also want victims to know what protections are actually going to be in place before the person who harmed them walks out of prison, rather than being left with uncertainty.
“Victims are not statistics attached to a prison-capacity problem.
“Behind every case is somebody who may have spent months or years rebuilding their life around an expected release date.
“When that date changes, the consequences are not administrative for us.
“They are personal.
“Victims have to live with the consequences of those decisions long after the headlines have moved on.”
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