‘Obsessive’ boyfriend spied on partners from their lofts and made woman write suicide note to her child, Leeds Crown Court told

Carl Behan was given an extended jail sentence at Leeds Crown Court after the judge said he posed a risk of harm to his girlfriends.

Held on remand at HMP Leeds, the 31-year-old initially tried to convince police the three victims all had mental health or drug problems.

Prosecutor Eddison Flint said Behan’s offending began in 2021 during a relationship with a woman who later described Behan as “obsessive”. In the May he held a knife to her throat during an argument and strangled her, then in July grabbed her by the throat, pinned her down and strangled her until she lost consciousness.

She ended the relationship in the December but he continued to bombard her with messages. He later told her he would hide in her loft and spy on her. During his interview with police he denied the incidents.

Out on bail, he then got into an argument with another ex, to whom he has children with, after he was left in charge of them and got drunk. He threatened to “strangle her to death”.

Two days later they met and he snatched her phone and warned her: “You won’t walk out of this house alive.” He later denied the offending but said he made some threats “in the heat of the moment”.

Finally, he then got into a brief relationship with another woman. Following a night out, she came home and he jumped out of the loft to frighten her. She tried to flee but he took her phone, slammed her against the wall and warned her: “You are going to die tonight.”

Chillingly, he then forced her to type out a letter to her child, telling her she was sorry but was “with grandpa in heaven”. Once Behan calmed down, he began crying and tried to hurt himself with a knife. The victim was able to run and raise the alarm.

The police found Behan in the loft. He denied wrongdoing and told police the victim was a “raging coke head”.

Behan, of Ceres Road, Wetherby, eventually admitted three charges of making threats to kill, two of ABH, sending malicious communication, assault, and criminal damage.

Mitigating, Jo Shepherd said Behan expressed remorse and did not want the victims to give evidence in court. She added: “Being in custody has been a wake-up call but he knows he has a long way to go to rehabilitate himself.”

The judge, Recorder Craig Hassall KC said he was “alarmed” by repeated patterns of behaviour from Behan, including the strangulation, snatching the victims’ phone and hiding in their lofts.

But he said: “The most chilling incident is you forcing one victim to write a letter to her son. There’s genuine expression of remorse and you describe your behaviour as ‘disgusting’. You are capable of causing serious harm, both physically and psychologically, with anyone you are in an intimate relationship with.”

Deeming him dangerous, he jailed him for eight years, five of which spent in custody and three on an extended licence period. He was also handed restraining orders for all the three victims.