Waterlooville woman beater guilty of strangling and telling victim to undergo breast surgery

Dangerous David Chandler, 56, of Hart Plain Avenue, appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court facing two charges of coercive control, a charge of intentional strangulation and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He denied the offences but was found guilty after a trial.

The court heard between 23 June 2024 and 30 June 2025 when he was “personally connected” to the complainant, Chandler “engaged in behaviour that was controlling or coercive which had a serious effect” on her.

The defendant’s behaviour was said to have caused “serious alarm or distress which had a substantial adverse effect on her usual day-to-day activities”. Chandler also threatened violence if the woman would not do as he stated and assaulted the victim by “strangling her, grabbing her head, slapping her, pulling her hair, and restraining her”.

Court documents said: “He instructed the woman to undergo breast surgery to alter her appearance in front of other men. He monitored when she went out, setting time limits, and frequently checking up on her by phoning her.

“He controlled her use of her own phone, and he checked it to determine how she had used the phone. He controlled what she would wear, and what clothing she could buy. He accused her of looking at other men and prevented her from speaking to other men.”

The charge added: “(Chandler) made threats to damage the address and property of the complainant and property belonging to her mother and son.

“He controlled the way she ran her business, namely that he changed the name of the business, he prevented the business from having any male customers, he controlled what treatments could be carried out, he forced changes to the signage and appearance of the business, he forced the deletion of social media accounts, and he damaged property belonging to the business.”

Chandler was also charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm following an incident on 23 June 2025 on the same woman. And on 29 March 2025 he was also accused of intentionally strangling the woman.

Chandler was remanded in custody over Christmas and will be sentenced on February 20.