A "most wanted" thug jailed for pouring boiling water on a woman was caught with £80,000 worth of cocaine months after his release from prison.
Anthony Reilly spent 18 months on the run from Merseyside Police after the sickening assaults on the woman. At the time, he made his victim's life "a living nightmare" with threats so sinister, she even wore a wig to disguise herself in public.
He was jailed for three and a half years in March 2020, and would have served around half of that time in custody, including time already served on remand, before being released on licence. However, by February this year Reilly was involved in serious crime again in his new home in Ulverston, Cumbria.
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He was sent back to prison for more than five years this week after undercover officers from Cumbria Police's drugs squad collared him with a plastic bag containing around a kilo of "high-purity" cocaine. The police had observed him approaching a vehicle and then leaving with the bag.
The 24-year-old later admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and was jailed for 63 months at Preston Crown Court. Back in 2020 a court heard Reilly, then living in St Helens and Wallasey, threatened acid and knife attacks, to kill the woman's nan and her dog, and sent her a photo of a gun.
He also bit the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, during a "terrifying" ordeal at her home. But the brave woman kept two chilling video messages sent to her by Reilly, which were played at Liverpool Crown Court.
The first showed him menacingly holding an iron, laughing and saying: "You f***ing little c***, I will burn your face with this." In the second, he said: "You little f***ing dog, this is going to be the last face you ever see you little s***, before I cut your throat."
John Wyn Williams, prosecuting, said Reilly smashed the woman's mobile phone and a window at her flat on a date in 2018. This was reported to the police, but the victim didn't want to continue with any proceedings against him at that stage.
Mr Wyn Williams said: "He made her life a living nightmare by calling her on the phone and sending extremely threatening texts and videos to her about her and her family. During the course of these threats sent to her, he even threatened to kill her dog."
The court heard Reilly threatened to throw acid at her, kill her nan and made other vile comments. Mr Wyn Williams said: "She was extremely frightened by these threats. At some stage, she was so scared of him she would disguise herself with a wig when she went out in public."
He said the threats even continued when Reilly was wanted by police over an attack at the woman's home. Mr Wyn Williams said Reilly hit the woman and then sank his teeth into her arm.
The prosecutor said: "He said 'if you don't give me the password to your phone, I'm going to boil the kettle' and he threatened to pour boiling water over her." The victim said Reilly punched and kicked her, bit her face, stamped on her head and stood on her body, fracturing her ribs.
She said he held a knife to her scalp - cutting her hair - and to her throat, threatened to kill her, and kicked her scared dog's cage. The woman said she tried to escape through a window but he dragged her back by the hair and chased her around with the blade.
She said: "He actually burned me with water from the kettle. Fortunately the red mark on my back isn't as serious as it could have been." Mr Wyn Williams said Reilly took her keys and phone, called her a "dirty slag", then fled.
Neighbours called an ambulance and the woman was treated for "nasty injuries" including bruising and a cut under one eye. The woman told the court she now had post-traumatic stress disorder and suffered flashbacks, anxiety and violent nightmares.
She said her arm was left scarred and she underwent counselling, after Reilly also sent inappropriate photos of her to her brother. Reilly handed himself into police on October 3 last year - some 18 months after the attack - when he gave a prepared statement.
He admitted harassment putting a person in fear of violence and assault causing actual bodily harm. His criminal record began when he was a boy and includes intimidating a witness in 2014, aged 16, and possessing a knife in 2017.
Michael O'Brien, defending, said at the time his client was still young but recognised his actions had been "inexcusable". The lawyer said: "He said it was no way to act and if he was given the opportunity would apologise for his actions to the complainant. He regrets his behaviour and through me he expresses shame and remorse for his behaviour."
Mr O'Brien said Reilly had completed drug and alcohol courses while on remand in prison. Judge Garrett Byrne told Reilly his conduct was "extremely serious and utterly disgraceful".
He said: "It's one of the must serious cases of the type seen by this court." The judge added: "You made her life a living nightmare."
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