By Staff Reporter

Last updated at 11:38, Thursday, 14 June 2012

A Carlisle man who was arrested after he told his drug and alcohol support worker that he wanted to stab and kill his former girlfriend has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Anthony Williams, 35, said he had made the comment last March “in the heat of the moment” while at a drug and alcohol support centre in Carlisle’s Botchergate.

He also mentioned possibly using a weapon and wanting to stab the woman.

Carlisle Crown Court was told that he later said that he had no intention of ever carrying out the threat.

But the staff at centre were so concerned that they contacted police and Williams, of Greenside Road, Morton, Carlisle, was later arrested.

David Pojur, prosecuting, said that, when arrested, Williams was not carrying any weapon and he said to the police officers: “You’re only doing your job after the Derrick Bird stuff,” a reference to the west Cumbrian taxi driver who shot dead 12 people before killing himself.

The barrister said the defendant met the woman involved when she was part of Cumbria Action for Social Support, where he went for help with his drug and alcohol problem.

He had “pursued” her outside of that environment, said Mr Pojur, and the two eventually began a relationship.

She found him to be an intelligent and interesting person, said the prosecutor. The defendant made it known that he had once dangled a previous girlfriend out of a window by her ankles, he said.

When told what he had said to the lady at the Botchergate drug and alcohol centre, the woman was frightened and feared Williams might attack her or her children, or her partner, continued Mr Pojur.

The court also heard how Williams stole two carving knives from an elderly Carlisle woman with whom he had made friends with in Ellesmere Way, in Morton.

He later told police that he had been diagnosed with a personality disorder and became “light fingered” when he took Valium and alcohol.

The defendant admitted making a threat to kill and a single count of theft. He was given a 32-week jail term, which was suspended for two years.

First published at 11:28, Thursday, 14 June 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk