Dad covered daughter in petrol and tried to set her alight - after she turned to him for help during a bad break up

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A woman was left devastated when her dad covered her in petrol and tried to set her alight - after she turned to him for help during a bad break up. Stacy Brooks, 31, and her dad, Mark Brooks, 61, had only just reconnected after 20 years of estrangement when the attack took place.

Despite taking her into his home in Pitsmoor, Sheffield, in July 2021, when she "needed him the most" Stacy claims her dad became "angry" about her new partner - who she has since split from. After a row on the phone - about her ex and money - Mark stormed around to where his daughter was staying and after beating her up, covered her in a mix of petrol and another flammable fluid.

Stacy's life was only saved when the lighter didn't work properly and her father fled the scene, on 9th August 2021. Terrified, she called the police and Mark was arrested later that day.

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Mark told police he had been looking for his daughter’s boyfriend and had wanted his daughter to come home. He also said he had taken twice the dosage of diazepam which had made him feel like “King Kong”.

In December 2021, Mark pleaded guilty to attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to his daughter and to threatening to kill her at Sheffield Crown Court. He was sentenced to nine years and six months in prison in August.

He was also made the subject to an indefinite restraining order to protect his daughter. Stacy, a-mum-of-four, from Pitsmoor, Sheffield, said: ''He was an awful dad and played almost zero part in my life.

''I never really even thought about him until I was left with nowhere to go after a break-up and a family member suggested I could reconnect with him. I thought 'why not?' as I'd always craved