A man brandishing a garden fork terrorised his ex-partner and threatened to kill her and the friend at whose house she had sought refuge.
Thomas Hugh Robinson, 26, picked up the garden tool and used it to smash a glass panel in the back door, York Crown Court heard.
The terrifying incident occurred just a month after Robinson, from South Bank, had been released from prison for a robbery at Sainsbury’s in which he threatened to shoot a shop worker.
Prosecutor Kelly Clarke said the victim’s hour-long ordeal began when Robinson turned up at her home in York on 16 June and asked to be let in.
Due to his aggressive manner, the victim – believing he was drunk or on drugs – refused to admit him. Robinson went away, but later in the day the named victim was walking along a road in Woodthorpe when he cycled up to her and subjected her to a volley of vile abuse.
“She carried on walking and told him she would call police if he didn’t leave her alone,” said Ms Clarke.
She went to her friend’s home on Chalenors Road, but Robinson bombarded her with phone calls. Her friend took the phone and told Robinson to leave them alone, but a few minutes later they heard the sound of smashing glass from outside the house.
The victim looked out and saw Robinson “climbing out of the side of a moving truck” driven by another man. There was blood on the side of the passenger door which came from Robinson.
The two women ran inside the house, locked the doors and hid inside an upstairs bedroom. They saw Robinson in the back garden brandishing a metal garden fork which he used to smash a glass panel in the door.
“He was shouting, ‘If I get in there, I’m going to kill you both,’” said Ms Clarke.
The victim called police who found “significant damage and blood” at the scene. They followed the trail of blood and found Robinson at a nearby address where they found the garden fork.
He was charged with affray, harassment causing fear of violence and damaging property. He admitted the offences and appeared for sentence via video link on Friday (21 July).
Seemed possessed
In a statement read out in court, the victim said her hour-long ordeal was “terrifying” and that Robinson seemed “possessed”.
“He said he was going to kill me – I thought he would,” she added.
She had since suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and was still scared even though Robinson had been remanded in custody.
“I have to take medication because I have extreme anxiety and panic attacks,” she added.
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“I have to be accompanied by a friend when I go out and I have trouble sleeping. This has destroyed me.”
Robinson, of Coggan Close, York, had four previous convictions including a teatime robbery at Sainsbury’s on the corner of Bishopthorpe Road and Scarcroft Road for which he received a 16-month jail sentence in June last year.
Masked and hooded Robinson told the terrified shop worker “I will shoot you” and put his hand inside his coat by his waistband as if he were reaching for a gun, although he didn’t produce one. The cashier opened the till and Robinson grabbed hundreds of pounds before fleeing.
Defence barrister Timothy Jacobs said Robinson and the victim had been in a “difficult” three-year relationship which ended earlier this year.
Recorder Aisha Wadoodi said the offences had had a “considerable impact” on the victim and it had to be an immediate prison sentence because of the “level of fear and distress” caused.
Robinson was jailed for nine months and given a five-year restraining order prohibiting any direct contact with the victim by any means and banning him from entering her street in York.
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