A Liverpool man who bombarded his former partner with vile messages threatening to slash her face and douse her with acid has been jailed.
Paul Ball also threatened to shoot the woman, destroy her sentimental jewellery, attack her under the cover of darkness and in front of her children.
The 42-year-old also threatened to get social services to take her young child and set her home on fire. His victim told Liverpool Crown Court, “No eight-year-old should ask, ‘nan what would acid do to mummy’s face?’"
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Ball’s relentless campaign via texts, telephone calls from unknown numbers, voice messages and face-to-face meetings, left his victim “broken”. On Friday (June 17) he was jailed for two and a half years.
Jailing him the judge, Recorder Ian Unsworth said: “For a period of over a year you conducted yourself in a way which was truly terrifying for your victim.”
He said he had read some of the threatening messages which revealed the “horror” of the campaign.
He said he accepted he had behaved “out of character” and when the judge spoke of a reference from his father talking of the shame he had brought on the family Ball was on the verge of tears.
Recorder Unsworth said that the “ripples” of his behaviour had “rippled widely” affecting the victim and her family as well as his own family and children.
In one message Ball spoke of “let the games begin” but the judge pointed out it was not a game. “It is her life and your life and there are no winners in this game, only losers.”
Ball, of Richard Kelly Drive, Walton, had pleaded guilty to harassment between October 30, 2019 and 30 October 2020.
Jo Maxwell, prosecuting, told the court that the relationship between the couple, which lasted 18 months, had quickly become serious and she became pregnant after four months.
It ended in March 2020 after she complained to police about his coercive and controlling behaviour though she changed her mind about pursuing the matter.
She decided to get on with her life and moved home but he then began contacting her, initially offering to do jobs to recompense her for money he owed, but then harassing her.
Miss Maxwell said the threats included threatening to throw acid on her, take their daughter on other than pre-arranged occasions and shoot her, saying he would FaceTime her and show her the gun.
The voice notes he sent were programmed to delete after 20 seconds but she was able to keep the text messages.
He also threatened, “he would use a Stanley knife to carve her face and slit her throat.”
Miss Maxwell said Ball told her, “payback is a b****. Let the games begin. You ain’t even seen me angry yet.”
The victim said she used to be “a bubbly trusting person who wore my heart on my sleeve”.
She said: “I feel broken, I feel I am on auto-pilot, not really here and isolated. I want to be the person I once was and not feel the anxiety I feel every day.
“My nerves are that bad I cannot bear to be alone with my thoughts.”
The woman, who like Ball, has children from previous relationships, shook as she read out her statement and afterwards the judge praised her for her bravery in reading it herself.
She told how every night she dreams of being chased and does not like to go out unaccompanied. She no longer trusts anyone, particularly men.
She said: “I feel worthless and do not feel I will ever be normal again.” She said that no child should witness what hers have and they make sure the doors are double-locked at night.
She said: “It’s two years on and no eight-year-old should ask, ‘nan what would acid do to mummy’s face?’
The victim, who said she has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, added: “My life will be the same. I will never be the same.”
Julian Nutter, defending, said Ball, who only has one unrelated conviction, had spared the victim the ordeal of giving evidence in a trial.
References and pre-sentence report speak of his “clear remorse and willingness to address the issue he has plainly had.”
He comes from a respectable family and the threats appear to have been “bluster, thankfully”. He had never behaved in a similar way in previous relationships.
Ball has not been in any trouble in the last 18 months “which demonstrates he is capable of self-control,” said Mr Nutter.
Recorder Unsworth imposed a life-time restraining order to keep away from his victim.
A man and two women supporters sat in the public gallery for the hearing and the man became agitated when the sentence was announced and stormed out of court shouting, “disgraceful” and “who’s going to mind the baby?”
