Scaffolder used ‘death whistle’ to terrify his ex-partner
JUDGE BANS HIM FROM SEEING HER FOR 10 YEARS
A DERBY scaffolder whistled a chilling warning down the phone to his ex-partner – the same tune as a character in TV show The Walking Dead does when he is about to kill someone.
Derby Crown Court heard how John Lacey left his victim terrified when he came to her home after making the sinister veiled threat from a withheld number.
At the time the 37-year-old, of Chaddesden, was forbidden from contacting her or their four children by a court order.
His hearing was told how he also hacked into her email account and over two days earlier this year called her 75 times.
Now he has been banned from seeing his ex or their children for the next 10 years.
Handing Lacey an 18-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, Judge Shaun Smith QC said: “You reacted in a way you now know you should not have done when your relationship came to an end.
“I have read her victim impact statement and in it she says she is all done, she’s exhausted and she was on edge and I am not surprised.
“The silent phone calls were particularly off-putting and frightening for her.”
Kevin Webster, prosecuting, said Lacey and the victim had been in a relationship for 14 years but that had come to an end in September 2019 when she packed his bags and told him to leave. He said during December the defendant repeatedly contacted her and when she did not respond, he left a text message which read “if you don’t reply I am going to do something I will regret”.
Mr Webster said in early January Lacey, of Lexington Road, turned up at her house at 1.30am leaving her “shaken”.
He said: “Between January 9 and 10 she received 75 missed calls.
“He was also able to use an access code to get into her email account.
“He was arrested and in interview told the police he was the victim and that she was playing control games.
“After being released he made a phone call to her and when she answered it he whistled a tune from a TV show which indicates there is to be the death of a character in the show.”
In The Walking Dead, the character Negan, played by actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, uses a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire to kill zombies. He typically whistles the distinctive tune to signal to the audience to expect a violent scene.
Mr Webster said Lacey was arrested again and was handed a non-molestation order but despite that he continued to call or message from a withheld number.
After being arrested a third time, the defendant was charged and later pleaded guilty to harassment against the woman between September 1, 2019, and January 29 of this year.
He also admitted two counts of breaching a non-molestation order.
Mr Webster said: “In her victim impact statement the woman said she feels run down, exhausted and constantly on edge.
“She is concerned for the welfare of herself and her children and feels it is sad it has come to this.”
Will Bennett, mitigating, said his client works as a scaffolder and had lost thousands of pounds in cash due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
He said: “What has been really, really hard for him is that he has not been able to see his children for a long period of time.”
As well as the suspended sentence, Lacey was handed a 10-year restraining order forbidding him from contacting his ex-partner or their children without consent of the authorities.
He was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and attend 20 rehabilitation sessions with the probation service.