A WREXHAM man sent threatening text messages and broke into his partner’s home when she ended the relationship, a court heard.
Sarah Thomas had found out that Ian John Taylor, 24, had been unfaithful and finished with him.
He then accused her of having sex with his best friend – and sent her a number of threatening texts in which he threatened to kill her.
Mold Crown Court heard yesterday that in view of the threats, Miss Thomas left her shared home at Bryn Hafod, Wrexham and went to stay with her mother.
But that night Taylor with another man took a taxi to her home, broke in, and stole all her clothes.
Her bedroom was ransacked with the wardrobe overturned.
But Taylor was arrested after he and another man were spotted carrying armfuls of women’s clothes into the taxi.
Police stopped the taxi and caught Taylor red-handed.
Judge Rhys Rowlands was told Taylor now faced a statutory three-year prison sentence because of his previous record for house burglary.
Taylor, of Cunliffe Street, Wrexham, was jailed for a total of two years and eight months.
He received credit and the burglary sentence was reduced to two years and five months and he received a consecutive three-month sentence for harassment.
He admitted both offences.
A five-year restraining order was made under which he is not to approach Miss Thomas.
David Mainstone, prosecuting, told how the couple had been in a two-year relationship which was described as volatile.
Her self-esteem had been affected and there were allegations of violence within the relationship.
Three weeks before the incident last October she found out he had been unfaithful and she ended the relationship. He telephoned to apologise but she did not want to know and made it clear she did not want to resume the relationship.
He then contacted her and accused her of sleeping with his best friend, which was untrue, and she hung up.
She then received a number of unpleasant and threatening text messages.
He wrote “your life is over” and “your ugly boyfriend is being dealt with now.”
Taylor sent texts demanding she see him and he contacted her mother and described her daughter as “a dead woman walking”. He said if he saw her and his friend he would kill both of them.
She made a complaint to the police and went to stay with her mother – and in the early hours of the following morning the burglary took place.
Stephen Edwards, defending, said Taylor had mental health difficulties and had previously been the subject of an interim hospital order.
He was said to have a non-treatable personality disorder and adult ADHD, which led to impulsive anger problems.
“My client is a volatile young man when crossed, or when he finds himself in stressful situations,” he said.
He had settled in custody, was being properly medicated and was more stable.
In the cold light of day, Taylor was not convinced there was any truth in his belief she had been unfaithful with his best friend.
He had been told second hand and, given his personality, and the use of alcohol, he bombarded her with texts containing threats, but there had never been any intention to carry them out.
The burglary involved an untidy and messy search of her bedroom.
“It was quite an unusual sight. He was seen carrying a large amount of women’s clothing into a taxi and was arrested,” he said.
He was remorseful and did regret what he had done.
Judge Rowlands said the victim was “in complete fear of him”.
The text messages had been “extremely threatening”.