A TikTok influencer who identifies as transgender has been sentenced to jail for attacking her girlfriend in a long period of violent and controlling behavior.
Hollie Hanson, 26, was possessive and abusive towards her partner Lauren Hanson, causing both physical and emotional harm that deeply affected her.
Hanson, who has gained tens of thousands of views on TikTok, was caught on camera strangling Lauren for two minutes and threatening to kill her.
Hanson, who was assigned female at birth, has applied for a gender recognition certificate while being held at HMP New Hall women’s prison, as revealed during the trial at Leeds Crown Court.
She now demands to be known as Ryder Hanson and to be referred to with ‘he/him’ and ‘they/them’ pronouns.
Videos posted on TikTok show Hanson saying she needs to ‘learn how to stay quiet sometimes’ and she knows ‘how disrespectful’ she can get when ‘angry and hurt’.
Other videos show Hanson and Lauren putting on a loved up display when they were still together.
Speaking about the footage of Hanson strangling Lauren, Judge Mushtaq Khokhar told Leeds Crown Court: ‘It might have lasted two minutes.
‘To her, one could imagine it would have been eternity because that’s what it is like to be strangled.
‘Your whole life passes before your eyes.’
Hanson subjected Lauren to controlling and coercive behaviour between 2020 and 2024, borne out of raging jealousy over her contact with other men and women.
Lauren, who has a child from a previous relationship, was banned from using her phone, monitored while using social media and stopped from seeing friends and family.
The court heard how she was unable to access her benefits because Hanson controlled their joint bank account.
On one occasion, in January 2020, Hanson assaulted Lauren with a vodka bottle, knocking her unconscious before slashing her leg.
Lauren was too scared to report the attack and told medics at the hospital she had accidentally cut herself on a shard of glass.
In another incident, Hanson poured a ‘jerry can of fuel’ on her partner before setting the liquid on fire with a lit cigarette, causing Lauren’s boots to catch fire.
Judge Khokhar told Hanson: ‘You banned her from social media. You controlled her financially. You controlled her contact with her own child.
‘You were so possessive and obsessed with her, and controlling, that on one occasion you burned her child’s clothing.
‘On another occasion, you had poured a jerry can of fuel over her body and then you had thrown the cigarette to become alight.
‘Mercifully, no injury was sustained from it but it could have been worse than it was.’
Lauren was strangled by Hanson in September last year after packing her belongings having been told to leave their apartment in Knottingley, near Leeds.
She secretly recorded the vicious attack on her phone and handed it to police.
In a victim impact statement read by Oliver Norman, prosecuting, Lauren said of Hanson: ‘She’s left a mark on my life that won’t go away.
‘She’s ruined me as a person. I’m vulnerable and a broken person and that’s at the hands of Hollie Hanson.
‘I’ve finally come to the realisation that she never loved me. The realisation is that Hollie Hanson is my abuser.
‘I worry that I will never get over the pain and hurt she’s caused me.
‘I hope to never set eyes on her again.’
Describing Hanson as a ‘dangerous offender’, Judge Khokhar said: ‘It was a horrendous experience to undergo at the hands of someone you think you love.’
He added: ‘In my judgement, there’s nothing worse than controlling someone’s emotions, their movements and also from associating with people that person wants to associate with.
‘This behaviour consisted of controlling who she had contact with, who could she meet and who she could not meet. She had to report to you as to where she was at any given time. She could not use her phone at times without your permission.’
Hanson admitted controlling and coercive behaviour, wounding without intent, intentional strangulation, threats to kill and assault by beating.
She was handed a restraining order to keep away from Lauren, whom the court heard had undergone counselling.
