Justin Lee Collins guilty of domestic abuse, handed a ‘humbling’ punishment

• Justin Lee Collins subjected ex-partner to sustained abuse

• Comedian made Anna Larke write sex dossier

Sentencing the bearded comedian, the judge told him it should be “humbling work” for someone with such a prominent career in showbusiness.

The ten-day trial at St Albans Crown Court heard that Collins, who made a name for himself as a host on Channel 4’s The Friday Night Project, was a controlling, jealous boyfriend who was physically violent towards Anna Larke, 38.

Jurors heard that Collins, also 38, subjected Ms Larke, a video games PR worker, to sustained emotional and domestic abuse during their seven-month relationship, and made her write down in a notepad all her previous sexual encounters regardless of how graphic they were.

The court was told that Collins made her sleep facing him, throw away DVDs because they featured actors she found attractive and made death threats against her.

Collins also stopped Ms Larke using social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, after reading her messages.

Jurors were played a secret recording she made of him verbally abusing her during a row, in which he called her a “f****** slag”, a “dirty vile whore”, and a “f****** sex addict”.

He said the recording showed him at his worst, but denied all her other claims, telling the court he had never attacked her in any way and had never hit anyone in his life.

But giving her evidence to the court, Ms Larke said Collins attacked her in a hotel room in Miami in March last year.

She had not shown her doctor her bruises because she did not want to get him into trouble.

“I didn’t want to do it to Justin. He was the love of my life,” she said.

Following sentencing yesterday, Ms Larke’s family released a statement describing their relief at the verdict.

It said: “We are absolutely ecstatic with the verdict and are relieved the jury were able to see through the lies of an abuser.

“We will not rest on our laurels in the wake of this good news and intend to go out into the world and use this experience to empower women to stand up to domestic abuse.”

The statement added that they would also campaign to put an end to “the much-reported culture of celebrities using their positions to abuse people without fear of reprisal”.

A spokeswoman for Collins said he was “extremely disappointed” by the verdict and he would be speaking to his

lawyers.

The jurors found Collins, of Kew, south west London, guilty of harassing Ms Larke after being given a majority direction by the judge earlier yesterday. One juror was discharged late on Monday.

Judge John Plumstead immediately sentenced Collins, who appeared in court wearing a shirt, black blazer and jeans, and did not show any emotion as he stood in the dock.

The judge told him: “This is humbling work for somebody who lives a prominent public life but the very humility that the manual work should induce will make you pause and think about what you have done. You’ve had a successful career and led up to this time a decent life.

“It would have been very much to your credit if you had had the courage to admit your violence against Ms Larke, and for that you will pay the price.”

The judge described Ms Larke as a “vulnerable woman” and said Collins’ crime was a “very serious matter”.

He said Collins must carry out the unpaid work within 18 months and also ordered him to pay £3,500 in prosecution costs.

Collins was due to perform at the end of November at the Prince’s Trust We Are Most Amused show in London, with Rowan Atkinson and Jimmy Carr.

Last night it emerged he would not be appearing at the Royal Albert Hall performance. A Prince’s Trust spokeswoman said: “Justin Lee Collins has taken the decision not to perform.”