16
Jul
Notorious Harrogate man who threatened to kill ex-partner jailed
A notorious Harrogate man who threatened to stab, burn and kill his ex-partner has been jailed following a harassment campaign in which he threatened to petrol-bomb her home.
Lee Harpin, 39, bombarded the woman with numerous threatening phone calls and text messages and even threatened to kill members of her family, York Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Anne Richardson said that during Harpin’s three-day harassing of the named victim, he threatened to “slash and stab (her) in the neck” and damage the homes of her family members.
Before the ordeal in February this year, the victim had a brief reconciliation with Harpin in December 2023 when she asked for his restraining order - imposed for previous offences against her including threatening her with a hammer - to be lifted, but then he “reverted” to his old ways.
On February 17, she called police when he turned up at her parents’ home in Harrogate and demanded to know why she had been out in Starbeck with another man.
She was also subjected to a barrage of threatening phone calls in which Harpin threatened to kill her, burn her house down and slit her throat.
In one message, he warned her that if she didn’t answer the phone he would kill her, as well as her mother and stepfather.
In another message sent three days later, he told her:
I’m going to hurt you. I’ll stab your…mum.
He then threatened to pour petrol through her letterbox and “burn her”, adding: “I’m going to kill you. I’m going to repeatedly slash you in the neck. I’m going to slash and stab you.”
He said he would also kill her family members and a named man he accused her of sleeping with.
In a FaceTime video call, he told her he would “disfigure her”, adding:
I’m not bothered. I’ll get 10 years (jail). I’m going to hurt you 100 times more than you have hurt me.
One of the threats made by Harpin was so serious we have chosen not to report it.
Harpin was finally arrested but when police asked him for the PIN code to his phone so they could analyse the messages, he refused to disclose it.
He was released on bail pending further enquiries on the proviso that he didn’t contact the victim, but then called her and subjected her to another volley of abuse.
Harpin, formerly of Skipton Road, Harrogate, was charged with harassing the woman between February 16 and 18, putting her in fear of violence.
He admitted the offence and appeared for sentence via video link today after being remanded in custody. He had lately been living in a hostel in Hyde Park, Leeds.
Harpin had previous convictions for violence and offences against the same victim, once breaking into her home and smearing blood all over the walls.
Defence barrister Kelleigh Lodge said Harpin was schizophrenic and was not taking his medication at the time of the harassment campaign.
Judge Simon Hickey said the “huge” amount of “very dire and extremely serious” phone calls and messages to the victim had had a “significant” effect on her and her family.
He told Harpin:
You threatened to put a petrol bomb through a letterbox. (These were), in my judgement, extreme threats and must have caused extreme distress and fear to the victim. She has had to make considerable changes to her lifestyle.
Harpin will serve half of his two-year jail sentence behind bars, before being released on prison licence.
He was also made subject to a 10-year restraining order which bans him from contacting her and going to her home.
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