‘Bizarre bid to get back with ex-girlfriend’ – defence

DEFENCE barrister Neil Howard said it was a ‘rather bizarre’ attempt for Hoyle to get back with his ex-girlfriend.

The court heard that they had been in an ‘on-off relationship’ which was ‘violent at times’ and that Hoyle became ‘extremely emotional at the breakdown of the relationship’.

Mr Howard said: “The intention when he attended the house with the weapon was not to cause damage but rather bizarrelly, if she didn’t take him back, he intended to get himself arrested. It was an expression of his very warped sense of thinking at the time.”

Judge Beverley Lunt told Hoyle to ‘grow up, get a job and behave responsibly’. Sentencing, she said: “Anyone out on the street having taking a weapon like this machete and then producing it and waving it around is a terrifying thing to see.

“You did not in fact hurt anybody with it but you did however take it to her house when you were on bail with a condition not to go anywhere near her. Your record is now bad for violence.

“If you come back before the court for another fight with your ex-girlfriend then it won’t be weeks or months but years [in prison].”