Alcoholic plasterer attacked Castleford partner with knives after hammer threats
A plasterer who would turn on his partner when in drink was eventually charged after an incident in which he threw knives at her.
Adam Shaw had previously threatened her with a hammer but she had been talked out of contacting the police under the proviso he would change his ways.
The 30-year-old admitted two counts of making threats with offensive weapons in private, and despite being held on remand, was freed after being handed a suspended sentence order.
Leeds Crown Court heard that Shaw and the woman had been in a relationship for three years but it was blighted by his boozing.
He would become verbally abusive and possessive, accusing her of cheating and ordering her to get out of his home on Smawthorne Avenue, Castleford.
In the days before Christmas last year, while drunk, he picked up a hammer and went towards her with it, threatening to hit her.
Terrified, she fled the house and ran to his mother’s nearby. She was talked out of contacting the authorities and Shaw said it would not happen again.
But on January 24 he had been drinking heavily again and became aggressive, prosecutor Bashir Ahmed told the court.
The woman shut herself in the living room and even pushed the sofa against the door to stop him getting to her.
But he forced his way in and armed himself with kitchen knives and threw them at her, narrowly missing.
This time she contacted the police and left the house. He was arrested but later released.
He returned home and was calm, but began drinking again and became abusive. She left him and contacted the police again.
Arrested again on February 7, he gave a prepared statement in which he claimed both of them were aggressive and would say “horrible things” to each other.
Shaw appeared in court over the video link from HMP Leeds where he was being held after being arrested again.
He has previous convictions including drink driving and ABH.
Mitigating, Frances Pencheon said the incidents were mercifully “short-lived” but added: “He accepts he had a serious problem with alcohol during this relationship.”
She said he would drink up to eight cans of lager after work, had tried to seek help but found it difficult. He had worked as a plasterer for the last 15 years.
She added: “He is clearly remorseful. He has very little recollection of the events and accepts the complainant’s account.”
Judge Simon Phillips KC gave him a 21-month jail sentence, suspended for 24 months, with 15 rehabilitation days and a six-month alcohol treatment requirement.
He was also given a five-year restraining order to keep him away from the victim.