Woman feared domestic abuser would kill her

A domestic abuser who left his partner fearing he would kill her has been jailed.

Gordon Richard Glass, 43, from Newcastle, "bombarded" his girlfriend with text messages and calls and demanded she sent pictures showing where she was, the city's crown court heard.

Things came to a head when he spat in her face and destroyed her phone while demanding she drive him to the home of a male friend of hers, he wanted to attack.

Glass admitted using coercive and controlling behaviour, two counts of criminal damage and assault and was jailed for two years.

The relationship began in June 2023 and at first was "generally problem-free", prosecutor Ellen Wright said.

But when he was working away during the week, he started to demand she send him pictures showing where she was and include details such as holding five fingers up to prove it was a current image, the court heard.

When the woman was at work she would have to send Glass pictures of herself during her break with a timestamp displayed and had to constantly message him "to satisfy him she was not texting anybody else", Ms Wright said.

If he felt she took too long to reply he would become verbally abusive towards her, the court heard.

His control escalated and when he was home at the weekends he would insist she spend all her time with him and forbid her from seeing anyone else, Ms Wright said.

Between May and June last year, he "bombarded" his victim with texts and calls, the court heard, and began tracking her phone.

He also monitored her social media accounts and read her messages and on 21 June became "irate" that she had deleted messages he had wanted to read, the court heard.

Glass told her he would travel to her home from where he was working in Preston, and she was awoken at about 01:30 BST by loud banging on her door.

She saw she had had about 60 missed calls from him and he was trying to force his way into her home.

He demanded she drive him to a fast-food restaurant in Westerhope, then in the car park read through her messages and saw some from a male friend.

Glass ordered her to drive them to the man's house because he wanted to crash the car into his home, Ms Wright said.

As she drove down the A1 towards Gateshead, Glass became increasingly angry and smashed her phone against the car's central console, causing damage to both, then threw it out of the window.

He spat in her face and grabbed the steering wheel and handbrake.

The attack came to an end when the woman was able to flag down a passing police officer, who described her as crying hysterically.

In a statement read to the court, the woman said she genuinely feared she would be killed that night.

She said she had become a different person and Glass' control had made her question her life and "right to be here".

She also said she was afraid to be alone in her home and was "fanatical" about locking doors and windows.

The woman said Glass took her personality away and his actions would stay with her forever, adding she had been given a "life sentence".

In mitigation, the court heard Glass, of no fixed abode, was remorseful and accepted he had been utterly reprehensible.

Judge Carolyn Scott said she there was "no doubt" he had caused his victim "significant psychological harm and very serious alarm and distress".

She said he had been assessed by the probation service as posing a "high risk of harm" to partners.

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