KING: JAIL FOR BULLY WHO BOMBARDED EX WITH THREATENING MESSAGES

A young father who sent threatening text messages to his ex-partner after she reported him to police has been jailed for a year.

Luke King, 23, bombarded Claire Cameron with bullying messages after he was charged with breaking her kitchen window.

In one message, sent on March 25 of this year, he told her ‘I swear on my life someone is going to die’.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard King had been reported to police for criminal damage by Miss Cameron and was awaiting sentence.

Prosecutor Jonathan Foy said the couple, who have a young daughter, had a ‘tumultuous’ relationship but were separated at the time of the incident.

He said: ‘There was an allegation made to police on March 16 by Miss Cameron that the defendant had broken a window in order to gain entry to her kitchen.

‘He was charged with criminal damage after admitting to the matter and, indeed, pleading guilty, though he was not due to be sentenced until July 27.

‘It was against this background, and while on bail for that matter, that the offence of March 25 was committed.

‘That offence consisted of a series of text messages sent on March 25 to Miss Cameron’s phone.

‘Many were written in a threatening fashion.’

Among the messages sent by King was: ‘I will get you again and again and again’.

In a separate message he said: ‘I will never get over you. I swear on my life someone is going to die’.

Mr Foy described the messages as swaying between ‘distress, anger and frustration, and threats’.

He told the court when King was arrested and confronted with the phone evidence he refused to comment.

The court heard that King had been the subject of a community order at the time of the offence and was on bail in relation to the criminal damage charge.

Sentencing King today Judge John Lafferty said: ‘The courts take very seriously offences of this type.

‘If this offence had occurred alone I might have been persuaded to suspend you sentence, but you committed this offence firstly while subject to a community order and while you were on bail.

‘This is a very serious offence and only immediate custody can be justified.’

King, of (62) Paarl Road, Canvey Island, Essex, pleaded guilty to witness intimidation earlier this month.

ENDS