Comedian Justin Lee Collins threatened to kill lover, court is told - Belfast Telegraph

Comedian and TV presenter Justin Lee Collins subjected his girlfriend to a campaign of physical assault and harassment during which he forced her to compile a graphic dossier of her every sexual experience, a court heard.

The 38-year-old threatened to kill Anna Larke, with whom he had a nine-month relationship, if she told anyone that he had "smacked" her in the face, St Albans Crown Court heard.

Mr Collins, who came to fame with Channel 4's The Friday Night Project and appeared in West End musical Rock Of Ages, denies harassing Ms Larke, a recovering alcoholic. She moved in with him in 2011.

Peter Shaw, prosecuting, told the court: "The main part of that relationship was characterised by this defendant exerting control over her, verbally abusing her and physically assaulting her."

Mr Shaw said: "Once, when the defendant lost his temper with Ms Larke, he slapped her in the face. He told her, in effect, she must like it in a sexual way because she had allowed a previous boyfriend to do so."

Mr Collins listened as Mr Shaw added that he had threatened to "put her in hospital unless she shut up" and that once, after becoming jealous of a previous lover, he had smacked her between the legs with an open hand.

On a trip to Miami in March 2011, Mr Collins had grabbed his partner's hair and pulled her to the floor, the barrister said.

In May that year, Mr Collins returned home from filming abroad and was "angry" that Ms Larke had only managed to attend one Alcoholics Anonymous meeting that day rather than two. "He accused her of infidelity," said Mr Shaw. The court heard Mr Collins instructed her always to sleep facing him and to compile a dossier.

"The purpose of the notebook was to list every sexual experience with every one of Ms Larke's previous lovers," Mr Shaw said.

Ms Larke made recordings of rows with Mr Collins, which the court heard.

In interview, he denied ever assaulting Ms Larke "other than slapping her cheek to calm her when she'd been self-harming".

Mr Collins told detectives that Ms Larke was the possessive one in the relationship.

The case continues.