Paranoid Leeds thug gave girlfriend five black eyes and wanted her to have lie-detector test
A thug gave his girlfriend five black eyes during a “nightmare” five-month abusive relationship mired in “extreme paranoia”.
In a case described by a judge as “one of the worst he had come across”, Thomas Lock would continually accuse the woman of cheating, persistently demanded to know where she was and even told her he wanted to take a polygraph lie-detector test.
He would make threats against the woman, her dog and her family, saying he would kill them.
But the 22-year-old would also dish out extreme violence, repeatedly punching, kicking and spitting at the woman.
He appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week over the video link from HMP Leeds where he admitted a charge of coercive and controlling behaviour.
The couple started their relationship in February last year having met through the app, Snapchat.
The victim later said Lock would “snap” and his emotions were “extreme”.
The first time he attacked her she was asleep in bed and he accessed her phone. He became angry and woke her by hitting her across the face, then punched her, causing a black eye.
He also grabbed a pair of nail scissors and stabbed her in the leg and threatened to stab her dad, who was in the next room.
On other occasions he punched her through a car window, kicked her to the face and also attacked her when he thought she had looked at a man, punching and spitting at her.
Lock would call her names including a “dirty dog” and “scum of the earth”. He would track her movements online and would ring her if she was with people he didn’t approve her, such as her friends.
He was eventually arrested in September after a police appeal was issued to find him when he went on the run.
He has two convictons for six offences, including GBH, for which he was jailed.
Mitigating for his latest offending, Anastasis Tasou said: “He is still only very young but does have the presence of mind to recognise and accept how serious this is.
“There’s a genuine caring side to him, the victim herself says he can be lovely and kind.
“The difficulties appear to stem from him being unable to deal with conflict scenarios and extreme levels of paranoia.”
He said Lock, of Temple View Grove Burmantofts, was found to have learning difficulties at school, while his turbulent home life meant he was under the supervision of the authorities.
Mr Tasou added: “He has come to the realisation now that he is not going to get better and it’s not going to go away, these issues he’s had all his life.
“He can’t deal with them on his own.”
He said that Lock had taken the “first tentative steps” having taken an anger-management course while behind bars.
Judge Mushtaq Khokhar said: “It can only be described as a nightmare relationship.
“This is one of the worst cases I have come across.”
He jailed Lock for 40 months and gave him an indefinite-length restraining order.