Jail for Hartlepool 'bully' who threatened to burn down former partner's home with children inside

Rhys Parker, 22, threatened to kill the woman with whom he has a child to police from a hospital bed and repeated the threats at the police station.

He had been arrested the previous day for writing a threatening letter to his former partner's grandmother just before being released from prison.

In the letter, Parker called the grandmother, who is in her late sixties, horrible names and threatened to go round to her house when he got out.

Jenny Haigh, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court, said Parker, who has history of domestic violence, drew a cross on the back of the letter which left her ‘in constant fear’.

In a victim personal statement the grandmother said: “Bullying a 67-year-old woman and making her frightened in her own home, I feel this is a new low even for him."

The court heard Parker made the threats to his former partner in hospital while confused after taking an overdose of pills.

He told police: “If I don’t get remanded for this I’m going to burn her house down with the kids inside.”

Parker, who was on a restraining order from his former partner, repeated the threats later at the police station after being reminded he was being recorded.

He pleaded guilty to making threats to kill and sending a malicious communication.

He send the letter to the woman’s grandmother from Durham Prison where he was nearing the end of a sentence for a series of offences including assaulting the mother of his child and another former partner.

Regarding the latest offences, Parker’s lawyer said he lashed out after learning his previous partner was in a new relationship.

Stephen Constantine, defending, said in mitigation the prison letter was done in the heat of the moment and Parker immediately regretted it.

He added Parker, of Wynyard Mews, Hartlepool, was ‘thoroughly ashamed’ and ‘whole-heartedly apologises’.

Mr Constantine said the threats to kill were ‘limited’ and Parker was struggling with the death of his father.

Judge Howard Crowson jailed him for 20 weeks and gave him a five-year restraining order.

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