Aggressive drug addict made his gran’s life ‘hell’
A CONTROLLING bully who made his grandmother’s life ‘‘hell’’ for two years has been jailed – after flipping his middle fingers at the judge and telling him ‘f*** you.’
Drug addict Paul Curley ‘‘destroyed’’ his elderly relative emotionally by ordering her about, telling her what to spend her money on and smashing up her home when he did not get his own way.
On one occasion the 33-year-old, from Kingstanding, Birmingham, made her return to the shops twice because she apparently bought him the wrong cereal.
He also brought home a cat and let it mess everywhere without cleaning up after it, and ruined every cup in the house by putting cat food in it.
The terrified victim, in her 70s, had barely any money left for herself and had to eat microwave meals, but at one stage was left without any cutlery to eat it. She became scared to return home and ‘‘spent days on the bus’’ for fear of her grandson’s demands and angry outbursts.
Curley, of Hotspur Road, pleaded guilty to a charge of controlling and coercive behaviour and was jailed for three years and two months at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, January 14.
As the sentence was confirmed, volatile Curley stuck out two middle fingers at Judge Avik Mukherjee, banged on the glass of the dock and and shouted ‘f*** you’, adding: “All of this is b ******* , I’m getting screwed here.”
His behaviour deteriorated significantly after his grandfather died around two years ago, the court heard.
Dean Easthope, prosecut- ing, said: “The victim is the defendant’s grandmother. She said in the last two years her life has been made hell. The defendant took advantage of her being on her own without her husband.
“He started controlling her, believing her house was his, telling her what to do, what to buy from the shops – burgers, Lucozade, microwave chips. She didn’t have much money left for herself and had to eat microwave meals and sandwiches.”
He said Curley ‘‘played games with her’’ and told the court ‘‘it got to the stage the complainant had to move out in fear of not feeling safe’’.
Curley wracked up more than £8,000worth of damage in the home, hitting ‘‘every door’’ with punches and kicks, smashing kitchen tiles, plates and bowls as well as inflicting ‘‘about 100 holes’’ in the tumble dryer with what appeared to be a hammer.
The sofa and other household items were ruined by the cat he brought home against the victim’s wishes.
Curley also demanded £10 a day from his grandmother ‘‘to pay for his drugs’’ and if she said no he would ‘‘get aggressive, punch doors and throw plates until he wore her down’’. The victim surrendered £1,000 to him in 12 months.
Judge Mukherjee said the ‘‘catalogue of abuse’’ went way beyond the ‘‘aggressive bullying of an elderly lady’’, adding: ‘‘You destroyed her emotionally’.’
On top of the sentence, he granted a restraining order in relation to the victim and another relative.
James Doyle, defending, said Curley had been subjected to a ‘‘substantial degree of child neglect’’ which saw him turn to heavy cannabis use from the age of around 16.
He said the defendant had ‘‘chronic low self esteem and a chronic lack of confidence’’ adding: “If you’re in a position at the age of 33 where effectively you hate yourself, you live in a constant state of fear and self-loathing, you are not in a position to love yourself or anybody else.
“Addiction is a progressive illness, the decline has been progressive. What you end up with is this appalling behaviour towards his grandmother. It couldn’t be any worse. He had hit rock bottom.”