Seething Leeds thug threatened to kill partner and her mother
A jealous boyfriend threatened to kill his partner and her mother after the woman tried to get him out of her life.
Paranoid Niall Harte accused his girlfriend of cheating on him, demanded to know who the supposed man was and threatened to “beat it out of her”.
The 24-year-old was already on a suspended sentence and was jailed this week after admitting offences of harassment with fear of violence and criminal damage.
Leeds Crown Court heard they were in a relationship for two years and had a child together.
In March of this year be became aggressive when the woman had taken the child to hospital and he smashed her large-screen TV.
He was later arrested, taken into custody and later released on conditional bail. He was warned to stay away from his partner.
Harte ignored the conditions and began to contact her, apologising, and she took him back.
But after one or two weeks, he became increasingly jealous and accused her of cheating, prosecutor Robert Galley said.
At one point he struck her to the head when she was laid on the bed, causing bruising. He claimed to have seen messages that confirmed that she was seeing someone else.
Eventually, she blocked his number and changed the locks of her home.
Harte, of Broadway, Kirkstall, created a new Facebook profile and messaged her repeatedly.
He accused her of kidnapping their child, and told he was coming to her home in a VW Golf and was going to put the door through and “snap her chin”.
He made the threats to kill her and her mother, and said he hoped her brother died, leaving the woman “absolutely terrified”, Mr Galley said.
He was arrested again on April 24 but denied wrongdoing.
He has eight previous convictions for 38 offences. He was jailed for a robbery and was last before the courts in August 2023, when he was selling drugs from a stolen BMW.
He was given a 24-month sentence, suspended for 24 months.
Mitigating, Andrea Parnham said he had experienced a tough upbringing, witnessing domestic violence at home.
She sad: “He recognises that he has anger-management issues.”
She said he had been held on remand and added: “He feels that prison is his second home. He has spent more time in prison than he has outside. He knows the prison guards better than he knows his friends.”
She said he had never had a job, has no qualifications and had issues with cannabis, but said he knew he “had to take positive steps”.
Judge Penelope Belcher described his treatment of his partner as “thoroughly unpleasant” and his criminal record suggested he has a “willingness to use violence”.
She jailed him for nine months and activated 12 months of his suspended sentence, making a total of 21 months.
He was given a five-year restraining order to keep him away from his ex partner.