Traffic warden jailed after he threatened to cut woman’s fingers off

A TRAFFIC warden has been jailed after threatening to cut a woman’s fingers off with secateurs unless her brother paid an £8,000 debt.

Martin Horton, 43, was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court yesterday after pleading guilty to blackmail, possession of a blade and possession of an offensive weapon.

The defendant drove all the way to Bedwas, Caerphilly, from his home in Cornwall via Stoke-on-Trent to carry out the offences.

The court heard how he barged into the home of 20-year-old Claudia HillWilliams in Cherry Tree Close on August 5 while her parents were out and threatened to cut her fingers off unless her brother Mark Mayo paid an £8,000 debt.

Prosecutor Thomas Robert said: “At 1.30pm there was a knock at the door and when Ms Hill-Williams went to check, there was no-one there.

“She went upstairs taking her dog but she began to hear noises coming from downstairs. The defendant had entered the property by the rear patio doors.

“He shouted ‘hello’ and Ms HillWilliams went downstairs. The defendant was wearing a green plastic glove and he said immediately he was looking for her brother. She told him her brother didn’t live there but he became aggressive and shouted ‘where is he?.’

“He walked towards her, closed the patio door and said ‘you better get someone down here because I am not going to leave.’ He was aggressive, threatening and impatient.

“He pulled out some secateurs from a jacket pocket and threatened her with it. He said he wanted to cut her brother’s fingers off and if he couldn’t do that he would cut her fingers off. He said he had done it before and he enjoyed doing it. After seeing a photo of Mr Mayo’s son, he made a similar threat to cut his fingers off.”

Horton told Ms Hill-Williams to call her father and demanded £8,000.

When she got through to her mother, she asked who the defendant was and he responded aggressively by smashing a vase. He then left the property but made Ms Hill-Williams give him her phone number so he could tell her when he was coming back for the money.

When Ms Hill-Williams’ parents returned he approached them, telling them they owed him £8,000 and he pulled out the secateurs again.

Shortly later the police arrived and Horton was arrested. He admitted to police he had been in possession of a hammer and had dressed up in black clothing to “look intimidating”.

He said he had fallen into debt and had decided to collect a five-year-old debt that Mr Mayo allegedly owed Horton’s stepdaughter who lived in Stoke-on-Trent.

The day before the incident, Horton had driven from his home in Cornwall to Stoke-on-Trent where he visited his stepdaughter and bought steroids.

He then slept at a service station overnight before driving to Wales.

In a victim personal statement, Ms HillWilliams said she no longer likes being at her own home since the incident.

She said: “I don’t feel safe in my own home as a result of what he did and that’s not right.”

Defence barrister Jeffrey Jones said his client was employed as a traffic warden and had not been in trouble with the law apart from a conviction for affray in 1997.

He said Horton had fallen into debt into the region of £45,000.

Mr Jones said: “He was emotionally low but he regrets it and wishes to say sorry.”

Sentencing, Recorder of Cardiff Judge Eleri Rees said: “Nothing can justify your actions on that night. It’s true that this appears to be out of character.

“You had got yourself in a great deal of trouble after falling in debt which may explain in part why you made this disastrous plan but this was a serious incident in which a young woman and her parents were put in great fear.”

Horton, of Fortescue Place, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, was jailed for two years and nine months and was made subject to a restraining order.