A MAN committed a series of offences against his former partner after their long-term relationship fell apart amid his cocaine use, a court heard.
Thomas Leigh was unable to accept his partner’s decision to end their relationship and was even prepared to flout police bail conditions by turning up at the Kendal store where the woman worked.
The defendant, 33, of Greenwood Avenue, Bolton-Le-Sands, Carnforth, admitted offences of witness intimidation and stalking as well as two assaults - occasions when he pushed her during rows.
At Carlisle Crown Court, prosecutor Sophie Johnston outlined the offences, which happened over a 12-day period.
The first assault came within the context of what had been a “somewhat volatile” relationship between the defendant and the woman concerned, said the barrister. In mid-April, the woman found empty drug packets in their home.
As a result of this, she asked Leigh to leave the property but he refused. “Subsequently, the woman lay on a bed and the defendant entered the bedroom with a knife in his hand and threatened to cut his own throat,” said Miss Johnstone.
He said he no longer wished to be alive.
When the woman tried to call the police, the defendant pulled the phone away from her and pinned her to the floor, grabbing her shoulder. She was not injured.
The second assault happened a few days later.
The woman discovered Leigh shared private information with a third party so packed his clothes into a bag and put this into his car. Retrieving the bag, the defendant returned to the house and pushed open the front door, knocking the woman back onto the wall.
“After this, the defendant began behaving erratically, threatening suicide and taking a cocktail of drugs,” continued Miss Johnstone.
Police later found him in his car.
The witness intimidation offence happened on April 21 when the defendant, released from police custody with bail conditions not to contact the woman, went to her house.
The stalking came to a head a few days later.
Leigh arrived at the supermarket where his partner worked with a bouquet of flowers. Speaking to her manager as she hid in a back room, Leigh said: “Tell her I love her and I just want to talk to her.”
In a victim statement, the woman spoke of being frightened of Leigh and feeling constantly guilty and “as though I’ve been secluded from everyone.”
Her confidence had been completely knocked, she said.
Michelle Brown, defending, said cocaine had been the damaging factor in the relationship which had previously been healthy. Leigh had failed to approach the situation with emotional maturity but he now recognised he had to move on.
“He is now free of substance misuse,” said Miss Brown.
The defendant used the word desperation when describing to a probation officer the emotional turmoil he was experiencing at the time. Probation staff assessed Leigh as a "low risk" of reoffending, added the barrister.
Judge Michael Fanning noted how the offending had left the defendant’s former partner “frightened and stressed.” That offending arose after Leigh began abusing cocaine. “And that was something she challenged,” said the judge.
The threats of self-harm were a form of manipulation, and an attempt to cause his partner stress, said the judge. She had decided "enough was enough."
But the judge accepted that Leigh, who has spent 81 days in custody, can be rehabilitated. He imposed a 12-month jail term suspended for two years. The sentence includes ten rehabilitation activity days. The judge told Leigh: “You have to learn from his experience; this relationship has gone.”
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