A WIGAN man threatened to kill his partner’s dad in a series of abusive phone calls.
Magistrates heard that Dean Rigby, 30, had a bad relationship with Zoe Austin’s father, Alan, and was angry about the fact that he moved into the Golborne home they shared for spells.
Things came to a head on one day in August when, after a row about access to his children, Rigby made nine calls and texts to his partner, including one witnessed by a police officer who had been called to attend by a distressed Miss Austin.
In one call he told her: “Tell your dad I am going to kill him with a hacksaw ... I’m going to splatter his brains and wait on the sofa for the police to come.”
Wigan magistrates sentenced him to a 12-month-long community order including a period of 200 hours unpaid work after hearing that the couple had now settled their differences now that Mr Austin had moved out.
His partner had asked that there was no application by the Crown Prosecution Service against Rigby for a restraining order.
But he was told to make a £50 contribution to the costs of prosecution.
Rigby, of Sycamore Avenue, pleaded guilty to sending by public communication network an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message.
Proscutor Mrs Katy Battie said that the couple had an “on-off” relationship. But although they were committed to one another, Rigby only stayed at the house overnight two or three nights a week because of the presence of Zoe’s father, Alan.
Craig Parkinson, defending, said that fewer than half the calls and texts Rigby had made to his partner could be classed as abusive. He said Rigby couldn’t stand his partner’s father and this sad situation had put a lot of pressure on Miss Austin, who found herself in a very difficult a situation in the middle of the frequent disputes between them.
Mr Parkinson said: “Unfortunately on this occasion Mr Rigby let it get to him.”