Man who ‘identifies’ as the Joker from Batman ‘tried to strangle girlfriend to death’

An obsessed ex-boyfriend who “identifies” as the Joker from Batman tried to murder his girlfriend by choking her twice after she “rejected” him, a court has heard.

Anthony Yewman, 45, who identified with the infamous film villain, is accused of trying to “squeeze the life out of” Jenny Dalton after she threatened to leave him.

Prosecutors allege he left Ms Dalton “helpless, vulnerable and scared” after choking her until she passed out, before seeing her wake up and telling her he would “finish you off” and then kill himself with his a knife.

He then in a “very determined” attempt at strangulation attacked her again, however Ms Dalton was saved as her daughter banged on the door on August 30 last year.

Yewman, who has a number of face and hand tattoos, denies attempted murder as well as alternative charges of GBH with intent and intentional strangulation.

‘He identified with the Joker and calls her Harley Quinn’

Opening the trial on Wednesday at Southampton Crown Court, Prosecutor Matthew Farmer said they had been in an “on-off relationship” for two years in which there were “numerous break ups”.

“She was clearly in love with him and he was obsessed by her,” he said.

In attempts to win her back, the court heard he would gift her flowers, or spray-paint the wall in her garden saying: ‘I’m sorry I love you, you’re my soul mate’.

On another occasion, he used chalk to write ‘met my soulmate when met you’ and referred to her as having his surname.

Detailing Yewman’s association to the comic book villain, Mr Farmer added: “After he was arrested he wrote letters proclaiming his love.

“He refers to himself as the Joker from Batman.

“He identified with the Joker and calls her Harley Quinn.

“It was a constant theme between them, he was the Joker and she was Harley Quinn.”

‘He became more and more obsessive’

In May 2023, Ms Dalton had to call the police because Yewman had ‘refused to leave the garden’ of her property in Fordingbridge, Hants.

Mr Farmer said: “We suggest that he became more and more obsessive about her.”

The following month, in June, she went to a women’s refuge to “get away” from Yewman before she was “persuaded” by him to leave.

Mr Farmer said Yewman had previously met her at the airport with flowers and managed to find her at the exact address of the refuge in Seaford, East Sussex.

The court heard he left flowers for her and was seen outside over a number of days.

“Mr Yewman turned up at the refuge over a period of days and eventually go her to come away with him, thinking he was not going to press their relationship anymore,” he said.

The couple went back to Ms Dalton’s address just two days before the eventual attack.

“It was made plain he was her ex-partner,” Mr Farmer added.

“She told him again that their on-off relationship was off and she wanted to leave him.

“He could not accept what he was hearing and that’s when he attacked her, strangling her so severely she was left unconscious on her bedroom floor.”

‘I’ll finish you off and then I’ll do myself’

The court heard she woke up to Yewman blowing into her face trying to resuscitate her before he walked over to a mirror and started cutting his neck.

When she objected he looked at her and said: “Oh you’re alive.

“I’ll finish you off and then I’ll do myself.”

Ms Dalton was “helpless, vulnerable and scared” after the first attack.

Describing the second, Mr Farmer continued: “Lifting her onto the bed, placing both hands on her neck and trying with all his might to squeeze the life out of her.

“It was a very determined attempt - this was an attempt to kill.

“She thought she was going to die.”

The court heard it was only through the shouting of her 21 year old daughter, Juliette, that Yewman “desisted”.

“This saved her life and he released the grip,” he added.

He said she was taken to hospital after “mercifully surviving the attack” but remains “severely traumatised”.

Ms Dalton’s daughter called the police and he was arrested.

The week-long trial continues.