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A young woman describes how her evil ex-boyfriend planned to burn down her house while she slept inside with her two young children, including his own daughter.
Cory Evans, 26, set fire to a car outside the property, causing the flames to grow so large that they spread to a second car. The windows of the family’s home were shattered, leaving Chloe Wallis, 24, and her young daughters covered in black soot.
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Three days later he planned a second fire – this time by pouring petrol through the letterbox while the family slept. It was only thanks to Chloe’s eldest daughter having trouble sleeping that the family were woken up and the attack was thwarted.
Evans and his three accomplices were sentenced last week to a total of 30 years in prison.
Chloe says: “We could have died so easily and that’s something that keeps haunting me. I’ve barely slept for over a year, worried it would happen again.
In prison… where he belongs
“I had no support after the attacks, we lived in hotels and with relatives because we were too scared to go back home. Now that he is in prison, where he belongs, we can finally start living again.”
Read more about domestic violence
Chloe was already a mother to her eldest daughter, now five, when she met Cory through mutual friends in October 2020.
She says: “He seemed very charming, easy-going and romantic. He was funny and friendly and there were no signs at all of what was to come. He promised me the perfect family and I wanted to believe him.”
How to get help
Women’s Aid has the following advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone at hand.
- Contact charities for help, such as Women’s Aid’s live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarize yourself with the Silent Solution, where you report abuse without speaking into the phone, but by dialing “55.”
- Always carry some cash with you, such as change for a public telephone or bus ticket.
- If you suspect your partner is going to attack you, try to move to a place in the house where you are less at risk, such as a place where you can go outside and use a phone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where knives or other weapons are likely to be found. Avoid rooms where you could get trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you could get locked in a closet or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis: messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid offers a live chat service – available on weekdays from 8am to 6pm and on weekends from 10am to 6pm.
You can also call the free 24-hour national domestic violence helpline on 0808 2000 247.
Chloe became pregnant in the summer of 2021 and Evans became threatening and abusive.
She says: “He was very happy when I first told him I was pregnant. He said he wanted a baby. But then his behaviour changed. If we had an argument and I answered him, he would threaten me.
“It was all about control, about his big ego, like he could do whatever he wanted now that I was carrying his baby. He wasn’t physically violent, but he would say ‘sleep with one eye open tonight’ and ‘I know where you live.’
“He threatened to take me to the mountains and rip off my fingernails and toenails. We broke up because of his behavior, but he kept threatening. I tried to be nice to him, for the baby’s sake, and also because I was afraid of him.
“One night my front door was smashed in. I couldn’t prove who it was, but it scared me.”
In April 2022, three months after their daughter was born, Chloe ended the relationship for good. But the threats continued and in October 2022, when Evans learned she had met a new partner, Ryan, he was furious.
She says: “He didn’t like the fact that I had a new partner at all. But despite the threats, I really didn’t think he would do anything, especially because his daughter was also in the house.”
But on April 2, 2023, Chloe woke up at 1:20 a.m. to a loud bang outside. She looked outside and saw flames as big as her house, and two cars on fire.
She said: “My partner and brother’s car was on fire and the windows in my living room were cracked. We were all covered in soot and coughing, but thankfully we got out safely.”
He wasn’t physically violent, but he did say “sleep with one eye open tonight” and “I know where you live”
Chloe Wallis
Chloe took her children to stay overnight in a hotel and begged social services to arrange emergency accommodation for her, but instead she had to return home.
She says: “I didn’t feel safe being back home. We moved all our stuff away from the window and we all slept in one room. I was too scared to sleep and the tension spread to my daughters.”
Three days after the first attack, Chloe’s partner, Ryan, was awake late at night trying to calm her daughter down when he heard a noise at the front door. He caught a man pouring petrol through the letterbox and was able to stop the attack.
I was too scared to go outside, because they might be waiting for me. We sneaked out the back door, scared for our lives.
Chloe Wallis
Chloe said: “The man was seconds away from setting fire to the petrol. We could all have died. I called 999. The operator told me to get out of the house but I was too scared to go out because they might be waiting for me. We crept out the back door, scared for our lives.”
Chloe claims she had no support following the attack, and it was only after weeks of paying for hotels and staying with relatives that the council finally offered her temporary accommodation, after which she had no choice but to return home.
It was terrifying to think that there were complete strangers walking around wanting to harm me and my children.
Chloe Wallis
She says, “For a year I barely slept. I was expecting another attack. Every time I heard a noise in the night I was terrified. I found out that Cory and three other people had been arrested. I didn’t even know who the others were. It was terrifying to think that there were complete strangers out there trying to hurt me and my children.”
More than a year later, Chloe and her eldest daughter are still waiting for counseling and help.
She says: “I felt completely abandoned. I felt failed by all the agencies that were supposed to help me.”
Paid in crack cocaine
Last week Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court was told how Evans convinced three other reckless criminals to “do his dirty work for him”.
Drug-addicted couple Carl Rowe, 42, and Danielle Lewis-Rowe, 38, were paid in crack cocaine by Evans for their participation, as was Evans’ boyfriend Paul James, 40.
During the sentencing hearing, it emerged that Rowe drove his wife and James to Chloe’s house, stopping along the way to get a gas can and accelerant.
When James arrived in the middle of the night, he jumped out of the car and walked to the property with the can of petrol. CCTV footage shows him being scared off by a security light, before making a second attempt 30 minutes later and successfully pouring the liquid into the letterbox.
What kind of monster sets fire to a house with his own child in it?
Chloe Wallis
What happened next, when Chloe’s partner stopped the attack, was described by Judge Eugene Egan as a potentially “life-saving event”. He said it gave the family “the narrowest of escapes”, and predicted that without it James would have set the petrol alight within moments.
The court heard how Evans later boasted during a police interview that he ‘had it in him’ [him] “to commit murder”.
Evans was convicted of arson with recklessness, with intent to endanger life, and attempted arson with intent to endanger life.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
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James, Rowe and Lewis-Rowe were found guilty of attempted arson while being reckless as to endangering their lives. James was jailed for six years, Rowe for five years and his wife Lewis-Rowe for four years.
Chloe says: “We could have died so easily and that keeps going through my mind. I was so scared it would happen again.
“I didn’t get any support after the attacks, which made me feel like we didn’t matter.
“But I hope that the lawsuit can be a turning point. We have moved to a new house and I am slowly learning to look to the future. My children are so young and deserve to enjoy their childhood in safety. I hope that this is a new beginning for all of us.
“What kind of monster sets a house on fire with his own child in it? I’m just relieved that Cory Evans is finally behind bars.”
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