Son behind bars after making shocking threats to his mam
A devastated mum was left terrified of her own son after he warned her "blood will be squirting from your jugular" and she would end up in a morgue.
Alex Balmer sent abusive and threatening texts until his mother agreed to pick him up from his ex-girlfriend's house in June, then smashed a glass panel in her door after she refused to buy alcohol and hand over her phone when they got back.
During a shocking standoff the 26-year-old, who cut himself on the broken glass, wiped blood on her car, then pushed her with both hands as she tried to calm him down.
Prosecutor Neil Pallister told Newcastle Crown Court: "He kept licking the cut on his arm and while he had blood in his mouth he spat at his mother."
Balmer, of no fixed address, was arrested and bailed by the police, with conditions he must not go back to his mother's home in Sunderland.
But the following day he turned up again, so drunk that he vomited in her garden and made a series of threats in an attempt to get her to drop the charges.
The mum said in her statement to police: "I was shaking, I was crying, telling him to get back.
"He was trying to get me to drop the charges in relation to the damage.
"He was telling me 'you
are going to be locked up in a morgue, blood will be squirting from your jugular'. I was crying uncontrollably."
The court heard Balmer dragged a finger across his neck in a gesture "as if he was going to slit his mother's throat".
The mum added: "I felt as though I couldn't say anything through fear.
"I don't believe he would carry out these threats but when he's in drink I have no idea what he's capable of.
"I am gutted that I am scared of my own son.
"I was terrified of what he might do."
Balmer was arrested again when the police arrived.
In a later statement, the mum said: "I can't believe Alex has caused me to feel like this.
"I was crying uncontrollably through fear of what he might do. I no longer feel safe in my own home.
"It makes me feel so sad this is what the relationship has come to."
She added: "The thought of having to cut Alex out of my life is heartbreaking.
"I hope we can still have a relationship in future, despite the way he has behaved in the past. I can only consider this if he completely changed his ways."
The court heard Balmer has previous convictions for violence, drugs and damage.
He pleaded guilty to sending malicious communications, criminal damage, threats to cause criminal damage, assault by beating and witness intimidation.
Mr Recorder Neil Haythorne jailed Balmer for a total of 36 weeks.
The judge told him: "It is clear that you have put your mother in a position no mother wishes to find herself in.
"I see her disappointment and fear in those statements."
Jennifer Coxon, defending, said Balmer hopes to rebuild the relationship with his mum and appreciates his behaviour was "horrific".
Miss Coxon said Balmer accepts he is "manipulative, aggressive and controlling" when intoxicated and wants to work to reduce his future risk.