Fake photographer who lured model into relationship avoids jail after brutal assault

When model Rachel Bambrough first met ‘pro photographer’ Christopher Worrall, she fell ‘blindly in love’.

The supposed snapper, 38, had messaged her out of the blue on social media, claiming he’d seen her previous modelling work and asking whether he could take some pictures of her.

Unsuspecting Rachel, 31, says she went along not knowing he had only bought the camera that day and was soon won over by his charm, and after a few dates they became an item in May 2022.

“After the shoot, he asked me out for a drink, and we went on a few dates,” says Rachel from West Cornforth, County Durham.

“I don’t think he ever officially asked me out – it kind of just happened, and we were together for three years.”

However, the relationship ended in violence in March 2025 and last week Worrall received a 15-month suspended prison sentence for assaulting his ex-partner at Durham Crown Court.

After returning home from a meal last March, Worrall flew into a rage following a petty argument – punching her and throwing a glass at her, leaving her covered in bruises and needing staples for a gaping head wound.

“On the night of the attack, we had been for a drink and a meal at our local pub; there was nothing out of the ordinary,” says the full-time mum.

“When we got back to his home, he put on some TV show about a strip club in Florida, as he goes out there sometimes.”

“I said ‘I don’t need to know what you get up to over there, if this is what you do’ and he got really angry and called me childish.”

While breastfeeding her baby, she flicked milk at her boyfriend as a joke and said that will show you childish.

“I expected him to snap out of it and laugh it all off, but it just went completely the other way,” she added.

“He picked up a glass and threw it at my head, telling me to get out.

“He also punched me in the jaw, and at that point, I just got out of the house as quickly as possible. His mum was shouting down to stop it, but he just told her to f**k off and go back to bed – and she did.”

Harrowing Ring doorbell footage captured the aftermath of the terrifying attack as Rachel turned up on her mother’s doorstep seeking help while drenched in blood and sobbing uncontrollably.

“It was pretty horrific, you can just hear me sobbing, and I was covered in blood,” said Rachel.

 “She was fuming with what he had done. She called him only to be told ‘You’re a s**g just like your daughter.”

Rachel was taken to hospital, where she received eight staples to the back of her head and underwent checks after doctors feared her jaw had been dislocated.

“I was also covered in bruises, and I wasn’t going to let him get away with this,’ said Rachel.

“He was contacting me to say how sorry he was and promised me he would change, but it was too late for that.”

The mum-of-two admits that there were warning signs that she ignored, as he reassured her he was a “changed man.”

“I just knew he had a tendency to be aggressive towards other people and had this ‘bad boy’ image, but I just thought he would never hurt me”, she added,

She said that during their three-year relationship, she had even used ‘Clare’s Law’ to ask police if her partner had a history of abusive behaviour before the assault, which showed previous convictions for violent offences.

Clare’s Law allows the police to release information about any previous history of violence or abuse a person might have and involves making an application online.

“There were warning signs which I should not have ignored. He just reassured me he was a changed man and made excuses. Although he was never violent towards me [before], he had a history of it towards other people,” said Rachel.

Rachel said she was blinded by thinking their three-year relationship was going well ahead of the assault in March last year.

She added: “Our relationship was fine most of the time. We had a little boy together but lived separately – it worked for us.

“He worked as an MOT tester at a garage – and still does now, he’s basically been allowed to go back to his old life.

“Even when I found out he wasn’t a real photographer, I sort of took it as a compliment and as proof of how much he liked me. It seems mad to say that now.”

Worrall, of Bowburn, County Durham, admitted section 20 assault at Durham Crown Court.