'Insanely jealous' Leeds partner held rifle to woman and said: 'I'll kill you if you get with anyone else'

Leeds Crown Court heard that Thomas Jackson would become verbally abusive, physically attacked her, would demand to see her phone, stopped her from seeing friends and told her to give up work to prevent her speaking to colleagues. The 27-year-old also told her he would kill himself if she ever left him.

He was jailed this week for a series of offences including coercive and controlling behaviour, possessing a firearm to cause fear of violence, strangulation and causing a fear of violence through harassment after he chased her in his car when she frantically tried to get to a police station to report him.

Prosecutor Austin Newman said that the couple had been in a relationship for 11 years and had a six-year-old son together. She tried to end the relationship in January last year because of his possessive ways, but he was unable to accept her decision.

Then in August, she again tried to end it and told him to sleep in a different bedroom. The next morning she was awoken by him accusing her of cheating, and said he had been watching her as she slept and monitoring her phone. After she denied cheating, he became angry and grabbed his air rifle, pointing it at her and saying: "I will kill you if you get with anyone else."

He was eventually persuaded to put the gun down, but he then grabbed her by the throat and throttled her in front of one of her children who intervened. She asked him to leave and he did, later moving out of the property.

It was later found that the air rifle was so powerful it required a licence, which he did not have.

The woman allowed him access to their child, but Jackson "took advantage of that", Mr Newman said. He would turn up at her work to check she was there, and one occasion he came into her work and was sat watching her.

Then finally, during an organised visit to pick up their son, Jackson noticed the woman sat in her car outside the property on her phone. He approached her and accused her of cheating. He lost his temper, got back in his van and began driving around in an "erratic and dangerous" manner.

The woman did not want her son going with him, so with the distressed boy in her own car, she drove off but Jackson followed. He tried to overtake and get in front to stop her at Beeston Hill, but she was able to drive on and reach the police station at Elland Road.

Roofer Jackson, of Winrose Crescent, Belle Isle, was arrested and he gave a prepared statement, denying wrongdoing. He then refused to answer any questions. He was held on remand and appeared in court this week via video link from HMP Leeds.

He has 10 convictions for 14 offences, including assaults on the woman from 2016 and 2017, harassment and criminal damage when he kicked her car. He admitted his latest offences just four days before his trial.

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Mitigating, Jonathan Turner said that Jackson's mother had died when he was 15, that his former partner was much older and perhaps he required a "motherly figure".

He said: "He is fearful of losing another person whom he loved and acted in a completely inappropriate way. Ironically, him behaving in the way that he did caused the relationship to deteriorate and ultimately end."

He said that the air rifle had been bought legitimately from a gunsmith for vermin control and he had no idea that he required a licence.

Jailing Jackson for 30 months, Judge Robin Mairs told him: "It was insane jealousy. It was a course of offending over seven months that escalated. It must have been a terrifying experience."