THE JILTED LOVER

A jilted lover broke into his ex-girlfriend’s home and slashed her £7,000 oil painting collection after she ended their relationship.

Matthew Green, 40, also stabbed up her £4,500 sofa, damaged her teenage son’s stereo and smashed her eleven year-old daughter’s porcelain dolls.

Mother-of-two Denise Bennett returned to her home in Colindale, northwest London, to find it had been completely trashed.

She then received a phone call in which Green threatened to slit her throat and kill her, the Old Bailey heard.

Ms Bennrett said in a statement she had been ‘knocked sideways’ by the attack on February 15 this year.

She added: ‘I don’t think I will ever feel safe in that house again. It is not even a home to me any more. I am a nervous wreck now.

‘I used to be a confident person. When I am out I am jumpy, I am more suspicious of the people around me.’

The Old Bailey heard almost every electrical appliance in the house was destroyed.

Prosecutor Donald Rogers said: ‘The microwave was destroyed. A kettle was put in the fridge, the washing machine door was pulled off and the TV was destroyed.

‘The sofa was repeatedly stabbed as well, and furniture was tipped over.

‘This also affected the two children. The daughter’s porcelain dolls were smashed into small pieces and the son’s stereo was damaged.’

Shelving in the bathroom was also damaged and the toothbrushes were found in the toilet.

Ms Bennett received a phone call from Green and asked him: ‘What have you done to my flat?’

He replied: ‘You’re seeing someone else.’

When she insisted she was not, he said: ‘I’m going to kill you, I’m going to slit your throat.’

Green has previous convictions for driving offences, assaulting a police officer and having a bladed article.

Green of Watford, admitted to burglary and threats to kill.

Jailing Green for four years, Judge Gerald Gordon said: ‘You destroyed her property and her home. In my view you set out to terrify her.

‘You were motivated by pure malice and it was an evil thing to do.’