SETTING up the pet-cams in her living room, Liz Shanks never imagined just how valuable they would one day prove to be.

For though they had been intended to keep an eye on her dogs they captured crucial footage of her husband’s sick act that would eventually put him behind bars.

Liz Shanks caught her partner’s domestic abuse on cameras she installed to watch her dogs Credit: SWNS

CCTV footage caught Chris Forrest’s (pictured above) ongoing violence Credit: SWNS

Liz, 37, put up CCTV around her home for security and never imagined the cameras would capture years of violence at the hands of the man she loved, Chris Forrest.

The harrowing footage shows Liz and Forrest sitting on the sofa when he stands up and gets on top of her, pins her down on the sofa and strangles her.

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He can be heard screaming, “you are going to die in my f***ing hands you wee cow” as she gasps for breath.

In another video, it shows her attacker, Forrest, strangling Liz, pinning her to the ground and throttling her against a wall in the driveway of her home.

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Liz says Forrest’s controlling behaviour started once she joined the fire service Credit: SWNS

Liz was physically attacked by Forrest on multiple occasions between 2017 and 2020 Credit: SWNS

After years of abuse, Liz finally took the recordings to police in 2020.

Forrest was jailed for just 27 months in 2022 after he admitted abusing his partner between July 2017 and August 2020.

Liz said: “In 2020, I realised that I was really fighting for my life.

“I was walking on eggshells with him.

“I didn’t know if I was ever doing the right thing or the wrong thing.

“At some point he’s going to grab me so hard and choke me so hard I can’t breathe, and there’ll be nothing I can do about it.

“Because he was so big and so overpowering, I just couldn’t do anything.”

Liz, who says he served around 13 and a half months, believes the justice system failed her and has since campaigned for changes to the way domestic abuse cases are handled.

Liz first met Chris through a friend around 2014, when they were both working as lorry drivers, and he initially appeared welcoming, polite and gentle, she said.

She said: “If you were to meet this man in the street, you’d be like, ‘Oh, he’s a lovely, pleasant, polite, well-mannered man.’

“He knows his audience. He has that ability to switch.

“People found it very difficult to believe that he had done what he had done.”

The pair began a relationship in early 2015, but Liz says controlling behaviour began after she joined the fire service in 2016.

The cameras captured Forrest’s violence, including pinning Liz down and strangling her Credit: SWNS

Liz believes Forrest is capable of murdering somebody Credit: SWNS

She was the only woman on her training course and said Chris tried to persuade her to leave.

“He tried to manipulate me to leave the fire service, but it was very subtle,” she said.

“It was a case of, he almost tried to make me choose between him and my career.”

The first physical attack of many happened in 2017.

Following an argument at home, Liz said Chris came downstairs and grabbed her by the throat.

She said: “It caught me by surprise, so I started to cry because I got such a shock, and when I started to cry, he stopped.”

The attacks continued intermittently over the following years, but the violence became more severe in 2020.

During one attack, Liz said Chris ripped the headboard from the bed and threw it across the room before grabbing her and pinning her against a wall.

Liz says that Forrest knew the cameras were there and he could have deleted the footage Credit: SWNS

Forrest pleaded guilty to four charges and was jailed for 27 months Credit: SWNS

She said he then forced banknotes into her mouth while insulting her.

On another occasion, she said he grabbed her neck so tightly that she could barely make a sound.

She said: “I went to scream and there was this little squeak that came out.

“And that’s when I realised that at some point he’s going to grab me so hard and choke me so hard I can’t breathe and there’ll be nothing I can do about it.”

The CCTV cameras had not been installed to monitor Chris.

Liz initially bought a camera to monitor her dog, who she said suffered separation anxiety when she was working.

She later installed cameras around her property to protect her older cars from potential burglars.

The cameras were visible, and Liz says Chris knew they were there and had access to the security app.

Liz hopes speaking out will break down misconceptions about domestic abuse Credit: SWNS

Domestic abuse – how to get help

DOMESTIC abuse can affect anyone – including men – and does not always involve physical violence.

Here are some signs that you could be in an abusive relationship:

Emotional abuse – Including being belittled, blamed for the abuse – gaslighting – being isolated from family and friends, having no control over your finances, what you where and who you speak to
Threats and intimidation – Some partners might threaten to kill or hurt you, destroy your belongings, stalk or harass you
Physical abuse – This can range from slapping or hitting to being shoved over, choked or bitten.
Sexual abuse – Being touched in a way you do not want to be touched, hurt during sex, pressured into sex or forced to have sex when you do not consent.

If any of the above apply to you or a friend, you can call these numbers:

Remember, you are not alone.
1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men will experience domestic abuse over the course of their lifetime.
Every 30 seconds the police receive a call for help relating to domestic abuse.

But she believes he never expected her to use the recordings against him.

She said: “Even when you see him pinning me on the floor in front of that camera, he knew that camera was there. It wasn’t hidden.

“He had the app to go on. He could have deleted all that footage.

“But he never expected me to report him.”

Liz began downloading footage of the attacks because she initially believed showing Chris what he had done might make him realise how serious his behaviour was.

She said: “I thought, I’m going to sit down, and I’m going to show him what he’s done to me.

“I thought that would make him stop.”

But watching the footage herself did not affect her, Liz said.

Liz added: “I think a lot of survivors can relate to this.

“You kind of normalise what’s happened to you.

“As time went on, I actually normalised all of that abuse. It was all I knew.

“You desensitise it.

“For me, I’m so detached from them, so desensitised to them, normalised by them.

“A lot of survivors will fall into that trap the longer that abuse goes on.”

She eventually showed Chris some of the footage in 2020.

Liz said he told her what she wanted to hear, including that he recognised he needed help.

She said: “I thought, you’re going to hurt somebody else all over again.

“If he starts dating another woman and she’s not that way inclined, she might not stand a chance.

“I thought he’ll end up killing her.

“I can’t live with myself if he goes on to hurt somebody else or kill somebody else.

“Because, in all honesty, I believe he was capable – and I still think he is capable – of murdering somebody.”

But she later became increasingly concerned he could go on to hurt another woman.

That became one of the reasons she decided to report him.

Liz contacted the police in September 2020, and showed officers the recordings.

She said the officers were so shocked by what they saw that they had to sit in their car for several minutes before leaving.

“They said, ‘What you showed us, you showed us as if it was completely normal. You were not shocked by what you were showing us; we were shocked,’” she recalled.

“They said, ‘We were so shocked that when we left your house, we actually needed to compose ourselves in the car for a couple of minutes because we couldn’t believe what you’d just shown us.’”

The footage gave Liz confidence to report the abuse because she feared otherwise it would become a case of her word against his.

She said: “If I hadn’t had that CCTV, I would have been worried about my word against his.

“Because I had the CCTV, I felt very confident that there was absolutely no doubt or qualms as to what had happened.”

The videos proved essential in a 2022 court case when Forrest was jailed for 27 months for attacks on Liz spanning three years.

But as part of a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to drop seven charges against Forrest, who originally had 11 charges.

Faced with the CCTV evidence, Forrest pleaded guilty to four charges.

She said: “I felt quite let down.

“And that’s why I’ve campaigned, because the system’s wrong.

“The system should not be perpetrator-centred.

“It should be victim-centred, and it’s not.

“Why reward somebody for pleading guilty early when it’s overwhelming with evidence?

“Why allow them to go and serve half their sentence?

“It’s not right. So I was let down by that.

“He deserved a lot longer, and I think everybody would have agreed that he should have got longer.”

Liz also said the aftermath left her struggling with anxiety, hypervigilance and trust.

She said: “I had to rebuild my life after I escaped that.

“I had a lot of issues with trust, anxiety, hypervigilance.

“It’s that sort of trauma that’s still there.

“It’s easier for me to keep people at a distance than get too close.”

She said she also struggled emotionally after leaving Forrest because he had isolated her from friends.

Liz said: “I actually wanted to still be with him and take the beatings because it was what I knew.

“I struggled being apart because he’d isolated me as well. He was my life.

“He controlled my life and it was just me and him.”

Liz has since rebuilt her life, found a new partner and had a son, who she says has helped her heal.

She remains a firefighter and has used her experience to campaign for changes to the justice system.

She said: “I’m fighting for change.

“I’ve hopefully encouraged women to speak out.”

Liz believes publicly speaking about her experience has helped break down misconceptions surrounding domestic abuse.

She said: “When I told people that I had been the victim of abuse they were like, ‘All right, okay.’

“But then when they saw it, they were like, ‘Oh my God, I had no idea.’

“And that’s the difference.”

Liz says the footage also means future partners of Forrest can make an informed decision.

She said: “I didn’t have that opportunity.

“I didn’t know what he was like. He was like a master manipulator.”

She said she now feels her justice has come from speaking out.

Liz said: “That’s where my justice has come from.

“I think it sets the standard for other abusers.

“If you’re going to do these things and you get caught, and there’s footage or text messages, you will be judged.

“I served more of a sentence than he ever did.”