Jealous man made threats to kill his ex

A MAN flew into a rage and grabbed his former partner by the throat after seeing another man leaving her home.

Shawn Crossfield repeatedly punched her to the face and body and, when she begged to go to hospital, replied: “You’ll be going to hospital because I’m going to kill you.”

The window cleaner claimed that he was still in a relationship with the mum-of-two and was devastated to find another man leaving her Grange Moor house when he arrived back from work a day early to surprise her.

The 50-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage.

Kirklees Magistrates’ Court was told that the attack happened at the victim’s home in Wakefield Road on May 29.

She had split up with him because she had grown sick of his controlling behaviour but they had maintained contact with each other because of the children.

Andy Wills, prosecuting, said: “She had moved on and was in a relationship with another partner.

“Then on the day in question he came round, witnessed the new partner leaving the premises and that seems to have triggered a response.”

Crossfield walked into her bedroom, grabbed hold of her mobile phone and damaged it.

Mr Wills said: “He hit her with both hands around eight times, the blows raining down on her upper body and face.

“Then he put his hands around her throat and strangled her. He squeezed tightly to the point that she felt quite dizzy.

“The defendant said: ‘You’ve broken my heart’ and she pleaded with him to stop.

“She said she wanted to go to the hospital and he said: ‘You’ll be going to hospital because I’m going to kill you.’”

Crossfield then took his own mobile phone and called both his own and his ex’s father.

The victim’s father could hear her sobbing on the other end of the phone as Crossfield told him: “You’d better come and make sure she’s okay. I gave her a slap after catching her with another man.”

Crossfield claimed that he hit his former partner only four times and that, while he did grab her around the neck, he wasn’t trying to strangle her.

The Huddersfield court was told that he was in a relationship with the victim for seven years. As far as he was concerned they had got back together and he split his time between her home and his father’s home in Shirley Place, Cleckheaton.

He said he recently spent money on driving lessons for her and was “left broken” after returning home a day earlier than expected to find her with another man.

Magistrates sentenced him to a 12-month community order with 25 rehabilitation activity days and 100 hours of unpaid work. They made a restraining order banning Crossfield from contacting his ex for two years and ordered him to pay her £100 compensation. He will also have to pay court costs.