A man threatened to chop his ex-girlfriend’s head off and ‘take it around the street’ after she broke up with him. Jerrel Coppell, 24, locked the woman and his sister inside his house after she told him they were no longer together.
He began arguing with her, and pushing her down onto the sofa every time she tried to leave telling her she ‘wasn’t going anywhere’.
Manchester Crown Court heard that Coppell, of Wythenshawe, then ran upstairs and grabbed a sword before threatening to ‘chop’ off her legs so she couldn’t leave the house.
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He then threatened to chop her head off and take it with him around the street.
Pleading guilty to an offence of affray, Coppell was handed a lengthy community order after a judge deemed that he would be better rehabilitated with help from the probation service.
Ellen Shaw, prosecuting, told the court that Coppell and the woman had been in a short lived relationship for a month, but they remained friends. The woman became concerned that he had not realised it was over, romantically, between them, and so went to his house on January 11 this year to tell him they were no longer in a romantic relationship.
After telling him, he began arguing with his sister, and as both women went to leave he locked the front door.
“She was then subjected to him shouting at her whilst she sat on the sofa. Every time she tried to get up he pushed her back down and said she wasn’t going anywhere,” Ms Shaw said.
“He then ran upstairs and ran down with a sword and shouted at her saying that he would chop her legs off so she couldn’t leave the house. He then said he would chop her head off and take the head with him around the street.”
The woman was able to escape to the kitchen, during which she told him: “You’re f***ing sick”. Coppell then ran towards her, grabbed her neck and began to squeeze, the prosecutor said.
He then pulled her to the floor before allowing her to leave, only if she promised to contact him again. She said she would in order to get away from him, and managed to run away. The following day she texted him to say not to contact her again.
In her victim personal statement, the woman said her day-to-day life had been affected and she has since moved away from the area.
Coppell was said to have three previous convictions for four offences including for a public order offence when he shouted abuse at a different victim in the street and a breach of a restraining order.
Defending, Gwen Henshaw said Coppell had ‘significant’ mental health difficulties. She said he now realises that ‘he needs to step back from intimate relationships and work on himself’.
“If he doesn’t take that opportunity with both hands the only place he will end up is in prison,” she said.
Sentencing, Recorder Jason MacAdam said: “This was sustained violence with the intention to cause her fear that she would be subject to very serious violence. That is what happened, she did fear that, anybody in her position would. What you did affected every aspect of her life.”
The judge said he was aware that Coppell had ‘complex mental health difficulties’ which he would receive help for if given a community order.
“If you don’t abide by the order, I will lock you up,” he said.
Coppell, of Wythenshawe, was handed a three-year community order and ordered to complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirements.
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