A “jealous” ex threatened to burn down a woman’s house and her mother’s home after being dumped.
James Roberts, 32, of French Street, Widnes, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday for two counts of malicious communications after sending threatening messages to his former girlfriend Charlotte Schorar and her ex-boyfriend Jordan Farthman. Geoffrey Lowe, prosecuting, told how the woman broke up with Roberts earlier this year but he continued to make contact in person, by phone and via social media between February 4 and 10.
The messages turned violent in nature as Roberts threatened to burn down both the woman’s house and her mother’s home, adding: “Wait and see what happens when I see you”. Fearing for her family’s safety, the woman left the property with her children. Mr Lowe said Roberts was “jealous” of her relationship with ex-boyfriend Jordan Farthman so he sent Mr Farthman a WhatsApp message from an unknown number offering to fight him, following up with a picture of a gun and a threat to have people “cut open” his face that night.
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Roberts also sent him a picture of the view outside Mr Farthman’s brother’s flat and said: “You’ve got 10 seconds to get outside or I’m going to let off shots”.
He added he “wouldn’t be so nice next time and take the doors off”.
When police arrested Roberts on February 10, he denied making threats but later pleaded guilty to two counts of sending an electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety.
Mr Lowe said Roberts had 19 convictions for 34 offences, spanning the last 17 years and as far back as when he was 15 years old.
His record included dishonesty, attempting to pervert the course of justice, fraud, and harassment and a court order breach relating to another former partner.
Roberts had appeared in court on January 5 - shortly before he began making threats - when he received a community order for possessing an offensive weapon, namely a knuckleduster, about which he spoke up during the hearing to say was a “souvenir from Latvia”.
Kate Morley, defending, pleaded mitigation for his guilty pleas, adding Roberts had been “surprised at the speed the relationship developed” with his victim, and he moved in and was paying her bills.
She said Roberts was “very remorseful” about the threats he made, telling the court: “He doesn’t condone with hindsight the nasty threats that he issued. They were, in my submission, empty threats that were not followed through, obviously intended to frighten.”
Ms Morley said the threats were “words not actions” and amounted to “bravado”, adding none of his previous convictions were for violence.
She called for a suspended prison sentence because Roberts had already spent five months in custody on remand - equivalent to a 10-month sentence - and that a probation report had assessed him as having a “realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.
Judge David Potter sentenced Roberts to 12 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and ordered him to complete 80 hours of unpaid work and up to 35 days of a rehabilitation activity requirement including the Building Better Relationships course, in addition to a restraining order.
He told Roberts he would have been sent down had he not spent five months behind bars on remand.
The judge gave Roberts 25% credit for his guilty pleas rather than a full third due to his initial denials over sending any threatening messages.
Sending him down he said: “Between February 4 and 10 you sent a number of distressing and threatening messages to Miss Schorar, in particular on February 7 you threatened you were going to burn her house down. So scared was Miss Schorar that would be carried out, she left the house with her children.
“Subsequent messages reinforced that threat - ‘wait until and see what happens when I see you’.
“And there was a threat to burn Miss Schorar’s mother’s house.
“You, I’m sure were immensely jealous of the relationship Miss Schorar had with her previous partner and on January 12 you turned your attention to him, firstly offering him violence then sending him a picture a gun and then making direct threats to injure him, either by stabbing him or by shooting him.”
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