Woman who threatened to burn down Leeds school re-offended hours after release
A crack addict who threatened to torch a school breached her suspended sentence order hours after appearing in court.
Jenny Twomey was given a chance to prove herself by Judge Andrew Stubbs KC at Leeds Crown Court.
She had admitted charges of threatening to damage property and Section 20 GBH without intent - having attacked her ex partner with a knife.
Judge Stubbs gave her a 14-month suspended sentence after she spent months on remand, and warned her if she breached the terms of the order, she would be fast-tracked back to prison.
The 31-year-old breached the order the next day and again two days later, prosecutor Miah Nath said.
Twomey admitted the breaches during a hearing this week. Precise details of the breaches cannot be disclosed due to legal reasons.
But rather than sentence her, Judge Stubbs ordered a probation report to be prepared, adjourned the case until November 4, and gave Twomey bail.
He told her: “At the moment you are doing your level best to persuade me that you should not be given a chance.
“If I was sentencing you today, you would not be going home - I told you you would be getting 14 months [jail].”
Twomey had only been released from custody in December last year when she tried to get into Temple Academy in Halton, but was stopped by staff.
She became aggressive and told them: “I’m going to burn the school down. If I see any kid walk past me I will set them on fire.”
She was arrested and later released. Then in June of this year she attacked her ex partner at her home on Carden Place in Halton.
Despite his efforts to help her, she became angry and attacked him with the eight-inch kitchen knife.
He suffered a laceration from the knife and cuts before he was able to escape and into the street, luckily flagging down a passing police van.
A doctor’s report suggested she was showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complicated further by her use of crack cocaine.