Man climbed up drainpipe to get into ex’s home
BELIEVED SHE WAS CHEATING SO SEARCHED PROPERTY
A MAN attacked his partner with a golf club, tried to force her into a bath and climbed up a drainpipe to sneak into her house in the dead of night.
Ross Turnbull made his girlfriend’s life a misery by trying to influence what she wore, who she saw and where she went, a court heard.
When she stood up to him as he tried to discipline her young son, he struck her with a child’s golf club on the knuckles and leg, hurting her.
She told him to leave but he later forced entry through a bathroom window to search her house, wrongly believing she had another man there.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that was the culmination of around three months of controlling and coercive behaviour by the bathroom fitter.
Andrew Walker, prosecuting, said: “If she went out he would constantly contact her asking where she was, telling her to come back. He would dictate what clothes she should wear.
“She complained about the way his behaviour affected her relationships. It meant she would visit her mother less and less.
“He belittled and abused her and on occasions she tried to end the relationship he threatened to kill himself.
“It affected her relationship with her friend. When she visited the friend the defendant would ask where she was and demanded she come home and threatened to kill himself if she didn’t.
“He then accused her of cheating on him.”
On April 28 last year, she was at home with her two young children when Turnbull, who is not their father, reprimanded one of them for playing with a metal golf club.
She told him it was her job to discipline the children, not his, at which point he used the golf club to hit her on the knuckles and thighs.
Mr Walker said: “She told him to stop because it was hurting her and her young child even told him to stop hitting his mum.
“Later on, she was in the bathroom running a bath when the defendant grabbed her from behind and started trying to force her into the bath.
“There was a struggle and she fell but was not injured.”
The victim told him to pack his belongings and leave and he responded with verbal abuse. After she threatened to call the police, he left but then started texting and calling her. He later threatened to kick her door in before turning up at her home in Blyth.
Mr Walker said: “She could hear him outside shouting and kicking at the front door.
“She was in bed trying to get to sleep and heard clattering inside the bathroom. To her horror he was trying to get into her home in the middle of the night. He was halfway through the window, having climbed the drainpipe.
“He gained entry and searched the house, looking in cupboards, even in the children’s room. He was looking for another man because he believed she had a man in the house.”
Turnbull eventually left when threatened with the police but then contacted her again, apologising and offering her cash not to report him. However she did and he was arrested.
Referring to a victim impact statement, Mr Walker said: “Before this she had a decent life with her children and could do and go where she liked without having to justify it to anyone.
“She would take the children to see their grandmother every day for a few hours but his phone calls during her visits started to impact on that because if she didn’t answer he would accuse her of cheating. So she only visited a couple of days a week and for lesser periods of time due to the constant calls from the defendant.
“She feels it impacted on the times she was able to go out and about with her children on a daily basis.
“Her interpretation was he didn’t want her to go out at all. She spent most days in the house so he knew where she was. During the course of the relationship he was always borrowing money from her so she had less to spend on the children and had to borrow money from her parents just to get by.”
Turnbull, of Wilfred Street, Byker, Newcastle, who has eight previous convictions, pleaded guilty to controlling or coercive behaviour and battery and was sentenced to ten months suspended for two years with £600 costs, rehabilitation and a requirement to do a “building better relationships” course. He was also given an indefinite restraining order.
He pleaded guilty on the basis there was no violence other than the battery offence, that he didn’t deliberately seek to isolate her and that he didn’t tell her what to wear but did criticise her clothes on occasions. Prosecutors did not accept the basis but said it didn’t impact on sentence.
Liam O’Brien, defending, said: “Both parties behaved in an unfortunate manner but he knows that doesn’t excuse his actions.”