Convicted rapist's obsession with Leeds woman led to machete death threat
A convicted rapist became obsessed with a woman who shunned him, leading to him stalking her and even entering her home with a machete.
Bombarding her with calls and messages, Thomas North was even able to send her a letter from prison, using his cellmate’s name to prevent detection.
North, who was previously jailed for rape, was handed another jail sentence at Leeds Crown Court this week after admitting seven offences, including making threats with a bladed weapon.
The court heard that North was a friend of the woman’s former husband. North had shown a “romantic interest” in the woman which was not reciprocated.
It led to North being jailed in April of this year, receiving a 12-week sentence and a restraining order to keep him away from the woman.
But he ignored the order and later sent her messages calling her a “grass”, in reference to him being jailed.
In the early hours of June 22, the woman was in her bathroom at her west Leeds home when she heard creaking noises. She left the bathroom and was shocked to find North on the stairs holding a machete.
He grabbed her by the arm and told he would kill her. North was with another male but they both left when told the police were coming.
Doorbell camera footage showed him arriving at her address, while a grey Hyundai that he arrived in was later found containing the machete and a balaclava. North’s DNA was found on the machete and on the steering wheel and gearstick.
Then on the morning of June 24, the woman was preparing to take her children to school when North turned up in a van and laughed while shouting: “I told you I would be back.”
He then took a wooden cane and began attacking her car, smashing the window. He then fled the scene with the cane left inside her car.
That was also caught on doorbell camera.
Two days later North sent the woman a message on Snapchat telling her to delete the video. He called her 53 times but she still declined to answer.
He also sent her menacing voice notes telling her she “did not want him to go all FBI on her”.
The woman later said she believed North was watching her because he knew when she was not home.
Then just after midnight on June 27, he called her saying he wanted to meet. She contacted the police and he was arrested nearby, despite trying to run from officers.
Held on remand, North managed to write a letter to the woman under his cellmate’s name while in prison, apologising for his actions.
North later admitted four counts of breaching his restraining order, making threats with a blade in a private place, stalking causing serious alarm or distress and criminal damage.
In a victim impact statement the woman said she suffered nightmares about North and felt like a “prisoner in her own home” during that period.
The court heard that North, of Baildon Walk, Whinmoor, had 17 previous convictions for 29 offences. He has failures to comply with community orders and a previous threat to kill.
However, he was jailed for six years in 2017 for raping a teenage schoolgirl in a van in Castleford.
Mitigating, John Batchelor said North now had no intention of contacting the woman again and was “realistic” in accepting that he faced a jail sentence.
He said North had his own roofing business and had often endured bouts of homelessness.
He said of the connection between North and the victim: “There was a close relationship between them. He had opened up to her and shared a lot of his previous offending.
“He believed he could trust her.”
The judge, Recorder Mark McKone KC told North: “You sought to pursue a romantic relationship with her. She did not want this. You became obsessed with the thought of spending time with her.
“She may have given the impression or hope that there was some sort of romantic interest in you.”
He jailed North for 43 months and gave him a new, life-long restraining order.