{"id":965607,"date":"2026-05-17T01:05:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T01:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/965607\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T01:05:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T01:05:20","slug":"tearful-mum-tells-abusive-ex-thank-you-after-he-threatened-to-shoot-her-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/965607\/","title":{"rendered":"Tearful mum tells abusive ex ‘thank you’ after he threatened to shoot her family"},"content":{"rendered":"

His victim was left considering fleeing the city over fears he will ‘one day find and kill her’\"Joseph<\/p>\n

Joseph McClean-Evans pictured when he was jailed in 2018(Image: Merseyside Police)<\/p>\n

A mum tearfully told her abusive ex “thank you” after her threatened to shoot and rape members of her family. Joseph McClean-Evans subjected the mother of his children to a barrage of “truly disgusting and unacceptable” violence and abuse.<\/p>\n

His victim considered fleeing the city over fears that he would “one day find and kill her”, but says that his vile behaviour “showed her what she needed to do to make sure her children will grow up with their mum”. Having also gone to the pub in his slippers and slashed a man, he remained absent from court as his prediction that he was “going to go to jail” came true.<\/p>\n

Liverpool Crown Court<\/a> heard yesterday, Friday, that McClean-Evans attended the Queens Arms pub on Admiral Street in Toxteth<\/a> shortly before 8.30pm on February 28 last year. CCTV footage showed him wearing a white shirt, black tie, flat cap and slippers before he was seemingly gestured into a side room by a man named John Cassell, who had earlier been seen playing on a slot machine.<\/p>\n

David Watson, prosecuting, described how the two men then briefly disappeared from the view of the cameras before returning, at which stage they were shown engaged in a “heated” conversation. The 28-year-old defendant, of Britannia Crescent in Dingle<\/a>, was subsequently pushed and punched to the floor by the other customer and kicked on the ground.<\/p>\n

McClean-Evans then producing a knife from his pocket, stood up and slashed at Mr Cassell with the weapon. Police arrived and found the victim with a “deep wound” to his left ear, although he refused to wait for an ambulance and declined to make a formal complaint.<\/p>\n

Officers arrested McClean-Evans as he tried to leave in a taxi, appearing to be under the influence of alcohol and drugs with specks of blood on his clothing and wearing a single slipper. Footage of the incident showed the other slipper flying off during the melee, along with his hat, while a black multitool was recovered from the road near to the entrance to the pub’s car park.<\/p>\n

McClean-Evans claimed to have acted in self-defence and was released pending further investigations. On the evening of September 21 2025, he went to the home of his former partner and the mother of his two children, although he was asked to leave “following a disagreement”.<\/p>\n

McClean-Evans went on to bombard her with a series of calls, stretching into 2am the following day, before she was awoken shortly after 3am to find him standing outside her house, warning that he’d “come to see her and the children for the last time”. He said he was “going to ruin her life” and threatened to get a gun and shoot members of her family and rape a male relative.<\/p>\n

Having eventually been allowed access to the property, McClean-Evans, who was said to have been armed with a flick knife, punch her to the side of the head, and ask her to call him a taxi. She later recorded him making further threats, including telling her that he would set fire to her mum’s house, before leaving and continuing to call her throughout the remainder of the night, stating that he was “going to go to jail”.<\/p>\n

Addressing the court from the witness box, his ex appeared to be fighting back tears as she said in a statement: “I knew how easily he could snap. I knew he had done things in the past. I still thought, there’s no way he could treat me in this way.<\/p>\n

“I did think Joe would change. I realise now how much danger I put myself in. I truly believe, if I didn’t report him to the police that day, he would have ended up killing me. His eyes completely changed. His eyes did go completely black. It was like a switch had flicked, and I really saw the real Joe.<\/p>\n

“Joe has never shown any remorse to this situation. Even when he used to do things, he couldn’t see why he’d done anything wrong. He’d blame everything on drugs. Even now, I don’t think Joe believes what he’s done is wrong. He’s bragged about it on more than one occasion, as if it’s something to be proud of.<\/p>\n

“I’m a completely different person to who I was before I met Joe. I don’t think I’ll trust anyone again. I may have to leave Merseyside and the city where I’ve lived all my life. I feel like, one day, he’ll find me and he’ll kill me.<\/p>\n

“The final thing I want Joe to hear is, thank you for what you done to me that night and the fear you put into me. You showed me what I needed to do to make sure my children will grow up with their mum.”<\/p>\n

One of her supporters in the public gallery then told her “well done girl” before they left the courtroom together. McClean-Evans has a total of 15 previous convictions for 33 offences, including for wounding and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.<\/p>\n

The ECHO previously reported in 2018<\/a> that he was locked up for two years after attacking another ex-girlfriend’s mum and brother with a metal cosh and kicking her front door in. This was said to have left the latter with blood pouring from a 10cm wound to his head.<\/p>\n

Carmel Wilde, defending, told the court: “He is somebody that has suffered from ADHD, dyspraxia and dyslexia and suffered during the pandemic because, whilst in custody, he was struggling with anxiety and bereavements in the family and of friends who took their own lives.”<\/p>\n

McClean-Evans admitted unlawful wounding, possession of a bladed article in a public place and harassment. He failed to attend the hearing after declining to travel from the prison where he was on remand. The dock was empty as he was jailed for four years and banned from contacting his former partner for 10 years under a restraining order.<\/p>\n

Judge Simon Medland KC said: “The defendant was in a public house. He was quietly minding his own business, so it appears from CCTV, when he was approached by Mr John Cassell.<\/p>\n

“The reason for that encounter is not known. There was some outburst of argument between them. Mr Cassell pushed the defendant then punched him twice. When the defendant had been skittled to the floor, Mr Cassell used his shoed foot to kick or stamp him.<\/p>\n

“Regrettably, the defendant’s response was to reach into his pocket for the knife which he held in it. He slashed him deliberately to the back of his left ear, causing a substantial and deep wound.<\/p>\n

“Later, he was causing trouble, quite avoidably, in a relationship which he had had previously. He behaved to her in truly disgusting and very offensive way. She was duly terrified by his conduct.<\/p>\n

“Unlawful controlled drugs have had a significant impact on him. When subject to them, he behaves in a way which is unacceptable, threatening and violent. It is quite apparent that she is still truly terrified of this man and what he might do.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"His victim was left considering fleeing the city over fears he will ‘one day find and kill her’…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":965608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,30,188,21724,393,4884,179,33363,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-965607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-courts","10":"tag-crime","11":"tag-dingle","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-liverpool","15":"tag-toxteth","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116587235159402061","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=965607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/965608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}