Jealous man sent chilling gun video to pregnant ex-partner
A JEALOUS boyfriend sent a chilling video to his pregnant ex-partner featuring a gun and bullets he owned, saying he would “put a hole in” any new man she might meet.
Andrew Taylor warned her he “wasn’t playing games”, leaving her fearful of what he might carry out.
After confiding in her midwife what the 32-year-old refuse collector had sent her the pregnant woman was persuaded to go to police.
Armed officers then flooded his street, leaving neighbours shocked, before finding the weapon – an imitation firearm – and ammunition in his kitchen.
Jailing him for nine months, Recorder Stuart Sprawson said: “You threatened someone with an imitation firearm. You had bullets and you sent the video in which you made it plain what your intentions were.
“That video clip may be short but it shows the weapon and ammunition and any person observing that video would think that firearm was real, capable of being fired and that your threat would be carried out.
“That threat was that you were going to put a hole in somebody and they you were not playing games.
“That would absolutely terrify anybody and when she heard and saw that she must have been struck dumb in shock.”
Sarah Slater, prosecuting, said Taylor and the woman had been in a relationship which had been going well but began to deteriorate.
She said in April of this year, after finding out she was pregnant, the defendant sent the victim the video.
Miss Slater said: “He made threats to shoot her, to blast her, he told her ‘I’m coming up. I know you’ve been with someone I’m gonna shoot him, I’m blasting both of you.’
“The video was a few seconds long and showed a starter pistol and four rounds. He says on the video ‘listen, let me catch a man around you, I’m going to put a hole in him with that,
I’m not playing games any more.’
“She has refused to provide a statement but told a midwife at hospital when visiting for an appointment that she was very scared of her partner.
“She said he had threatened her and sent her a video with a gun, saying he would shoot her or any boyfriend she had. She was shaking and was very upset. The midwife said she had to report it to the police.”
Miss Slater said police went to Taylor’s home in New Road, Hilton, on April 22 and found the starter pistol and four rounds of ammunition in a case in his kitchen. They arrested the defendant and seized the weapon.
Taylor pleaded guilty to possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. He has previous convictions for violence and one for robbery which saw him jailed for more than seven years in 2013.
Lauren Fisher, mitigating, said her client had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and that his mother was in court to support her son.
Urging any jail sentence to be suspended, she said: “The video is unpleasant and he understands the distress it would have caused his expartner.
“He made a decision, momentarily, which over the last two months in custody he’s had the chance to think about.”
Derbyshire police has a policy of not releasing pictures of criminals unless they have been sentenced to a minimum of 12 months in custody.