Website founder jailed for domestic abuse of ex-partner

A judge at Worcester Crown Court has jailed the founder of Birmingham Updates, the news website, for three-and-a-half years for carrying out a three-year-long campaign of domestic abuse.

Thirty-six year old Luke Addis (pictured), who set up the website in August 2011, resigned from it in 2019.

He had pleaded guilty to coercive control and actual bodily harm earlier this year and was sentenced to three and a half years at Worcester Crown Court on Wednesday, 23 October.

The court heard how Addis had pushed his partner down flights of stairs, pulled her fingers back, pinned her to the ground and punched her head and body. On one occasion he pushed her to the floor, knelt on her chest and threw a McDonald’s drink over her because she had not made a sandwich for him fast enough.

He also lied about being from an “extremely wealthy family”, making false claims they owned private jets and a property empire.

Deeming his crimes too serious for a suspended term, Judge Martin Jackson said Addis caused “very serious alarm and distress” to the victim. He added: “There was fear of violence on many occasions, not only incidents where violence was actually used, but instances where your loss of temper and control was such that she feared violence might be used against her. I have serious doubts about your level of insight into your offending. I do not consider that there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation; there will not be until you are prepared to confront what you have done.”

In mitigation, Addis’s defence counsel told the court that he expressed remorse, saying that the defendant had no previous convictions and that he was a man who “needs some help and intervention.”

Birmingham Updates continues to operate today with five staff and volunteers.