Death threat thugs jailed
A JEALOUS thug who threatened to have his ex-partner’s family killed after she refused to let him into her taxi has been jailed.
Luke Farrell, of St Huberts Road, Great Harwood, confronted the victim outside a taxi office after she had been enjoying a night out with friends, a court heard.
The 18-year-old, who was subject to a restraining order, said he wanted to get into her taxi but she refused.
Prosecutor Richard Bennett told Burnley Crown Court that her friends Joshua Holt and Anthony Tither tried to intervene and were punched by Farrell.
Farrell also kicked Mr Holt in the chest, headbutted Mr Tither to the face causing his nose to bleed and said he would ‘slit his throat’. Both friends ran off before Farrell turned his attention to his ex-partner, who had fled into the Burnley taxi office to call the police.
Mr Bennett said Farrell told the victim that if he went to prison then he would ‘send people to kill her family’.
He told the court that Farrell then started to hit his own head causing him to fall to the floor in the taxi office, before appearing ‘to have some sort of fit.’
Farrell was taken to hospital for treatment and was arrested by police three days later.
He pleaded guilty to two common assaults, a public order offence, breaching a restraining order, breaching a probation order and breaches of two suspended sentence orders. Farrell was jailed for a total of 13 months and given a new two-year restraining order.
Kevin Donnelly, defending, said: “At the heart of this young man’s offending is a relationship that has gone badly wrong. He now recognises and accepts that there can be no future whatsoever to the relationship and it’s a relationship which has brought him nothing but grief.
“He clearly has a personality disorder that’s been diagnosed which has caused difficulties but that has been either exacerbated or caused by inappropriate consumption of alcohol and controlled drugs and caused feelings of paranoia and jealousy.”
Judge Nicholas Barker said Farrell demonstrated a ‘deep immaturity’ and when he saw his ex-partner at the taxi rank he ‘couldn’t let it go’. He said: “You are amassing a set of convictions that demonstrate you have a disregard for court orders, a lack of control and a lack of judgement.”