A boyfriend who tried to kill his partner when she made a negative comment about his dinner has been jailed for 10 years. Aaron Hedman, 25, wrapped a mobile phone lead around Tracey Johnstone’s neck at their home in Sydenham on May 25, 2021.
Ms Johnstone told her boyfriend that his plate of noodles 'did not look like a full meal' before he launched into the horrific attack. A member of support staff at the property managed to free her, only for Hedman, of Fairlawn Park, to then wrap his hands around her neck.
On Thursday (October 6) the Old Bailey heard that Ms Johnstone was able to run to her room and lock her door. Hedman had been cooking noodles earlier that evening when Ms Johnstone said it did not look like a full meal and asked if he was going to be hungry afterwards.
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He later told police that her comment had annoyed him so much he thought he might as well kill her so she would not ask the same question again. Shortly before the attack, Hedman dialled 999 and asked the operator for help and saying: "I think I might do something."
Hedman suffers from complex PTSD and emotional unstable personality disorder. His mental conditions cause him to suffer extreme anxiety and extreme depression.
Before passing the sentence, Judge John Hillen said: "That evening you were making noodles for your supper. You say…that when you took the noodles out Tracey made the perfectly innocent and not abusive comment that the noodles did not look like a full meal and asked if you would still be hungry.
"That remark annoyed you so much that you thought…you might just as well kill her so she would not ask the question again. What is deeply troubling for the public is not only had you had thoughts of killing random people but that such an event might be triggered by a chance remark."
"You said that if you continued you would have killed Tracey Johnstone," he added, before he slapped him with a five year extended licence period.
Ms Johnstone said the ordeal "left her feeling so scarred that she did not feel safe in her own home" in an initial victim impact statement, but on June 18 issued a withdrawal statement in which she explained she did not want to support a prosecution or play a part in sending Hedman to prison.
Prosecutor Bill McGivern told the court: "She said she herself suffers from emotional unstable personality disorder and therefore she understood how he felt and behaved. On May 25 of last year at about 8.30pm in the evening Mr Hedman approached Ms Johnstone from behind, wrapped the lead from some headphones around her neck and pulled them tight.
"The Crown say that his attack was totally unprovoked and unexpected. The attack was seen by a member of staff, Kelsie Patrice. She intervened.
"She managed to free Tracey Johnstone and could only do that by breaking the lead. The defendant then grabbed Tracey Johnstone around the neck with both his hands and squeezed tight.
"Following a struggle Kelsie Patrice managed to get him off. The defendant then said, 'You are lucky Kelsie saved your life'.
"Ms Johnstone ran to her room and locked the door. The defendant then said to Kelsie Patrice: “When Tracey comes out of the room she is a dead woman. The defendant then went to his room and he called the police and he told the police that he tried to strangle and kill someone."
Paramedics arrived and he threatened to harm Lauren De La Haye, the court heard Hedman. He was originally charged with assaulting an emergency worker but that count has been ordered to lie on file. Ms Johnstone was found with no physical injuries although she told police her neck was hurting, and Hedman was arrested and interviewed by police the next day.
The court heard that his relationship with Ms Johnstone ‘had its ups and downs’. Although it was amicable, Hedman said that she would sometimes bully him and call him ‘scum’.
Joy Dykers, defending, said Hedman’s culpability should be reduced by his mental disorder, calling him a ‘volatile and unpredictable young man’. She said that he tried to seek help before the attack and that the ambulance that arrived was actually in answer to his phone call before the incident.
Relaying his remorse, Ms Dykers told the court that he apologised for his crime. "Tracey didn’t deserve what I did to her that night," he said. I’m sorry for what I did. I pray for mercy."
Hedman admitted attempted murder. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with an extended licence period of five years. He will serve two-thirds of his jail sentence.
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