Man jailed for sending threatening texts to ex Ðpartner

Watch what I do to you, I will ruin your life’, texted Craig Bent, as he attempted to stop his ex partner giving evidence against him in a domestic assault case.

He told her: its game over and said men had been paid to visit her home and attack her. It was a proper job, he said. Another text read: I swear I am going to get petrol and pour it over you, and watch you burn.

The campaign worked and his former partner was so terrified she did not turn up at magistrates court to give evidence against him and he was found not guilty. However, the text campaign continued and Bent was jailed at Mold Crown Court, for 15 months, after he admitted perverting the course of justice and harassment.

An indefinite restraining order was made under which he must not approach his former partner or enter Ffordd Gwynedd in Rhos, or the road where the victims mother lives.

The court heard how the couple had been in a three-year relationship and had a daughter. They split up in June of this year after he was alleged to have assaulted her Ð it was claimed he threw a television set at her and punched her in the face.

Brian Treadwell, defending, told the court that nothing could be said about the text messages. They were deplorable, controlling and bullying. Access to his child had been the source of much of his anger and that had since been sorted out.

Article Source: Daily Post

Dyson Allen receives long jail sentence for the manslaughter of 4 siblings in Freckleton fire

In July this year Allen was found guilty of the manslaughter of 4 siblings, 3 of whom were under 5 years of age, at a house fire in Freckleton, Lancashire.

Neil Flewitt QC, who prosecuted at the trial had stated that extremely detailed investigations had been conducted, and the unanimous view of forensic experts was that the fire had been started deliberately.

Allen, 19, a friend of the family, had started the fire in a wardrobe in the room the children were sleeping. Four-year-olds Holly and Ella Smith and their two-year-old brother Jordan were asleep as the blaze took hold, while elder brother Reece, 19, was overcome by fumes as he went upstairs to try to rescue them.

All four died from the effects of smoke inhalation from the blaze on January 7 last year.

Sentencing Allen to a minimum of 9 years and 3 months, Mr Justice Males said Allen had no motive to harm the children or anyone in the Smith family.

“So why did you do it? In one sense, what prompted you to do this terrible thing – not only starting a fire in a room where defenceless young children were asleep but waiting for several minutes before raising the alarm – is a mystery.

“But in another sense, why you did it seems clear enough. It was because you were out of your head due to the lethal combination of alcohol and cannabis which you had taken that day and because of your fascination with fire, particularly when you are affected by drink or drugs.”

Article Source: Lakeland Echo

Convicted drug dealers wife accused of conspiracy

Grappenhall, mum-of-two Diane Brookhouse, appeared in Warrington Crown Court alongside two men accused of conspiracy to supply drugs as part of a £12m cocaine ring. On the first day of a three week trial, the jury heard the 42-year-old, whose husband Richard Brookhouse was the organiser of the conspiracy and has already pleaded guilty, maintained a very comfortable lifestyle while on benefits.

On top of a substantial cash deposit on her rented property, Brookhouse also ran two expensive cars in the form of a Mercedes CLC 180 Sport and VW Golf convertible, owned two iPhones and had spent significant sums on botox and fillers.

Neil Flewitt QC, prosecuting, said Brookhouse was her husbands business partner. Richard Brookhouse was coming to the end of a 22 year sentence for importing drugs and his wife would drive him to meetings on his home visits from Kirkham open prison and also take meetings on his behalf.

The conclusion reached by the financial investigator is that the financial expenditure needed to sustain the lifestyle that Mrs Brookhouse has led over the last two years has vastly exceeded her legitimate income and continues to do so, added Mr Flewitt.

It is the prosecution case that Diane Brookhouse, who knew that her husband was a convicted drug dealer, knowingly helped him to run his business while he was in prison. She did so to obtain the funds required to maintain a lifestyle that she could not afford through legitimate means.

Article Source: Warrington Guardian