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17
Feb
‘I am going to kill you’: Knaresborough man sentenced for sending threatening messages
A Knaresborough man was sentenced for two offences at Harrogate Magistrates Court.
Leroy Macfarlane pleaded guilty to one count of criminal damage to property valued under £5,000 and one count of sending a letter/communication/article conveying a threatening message on January 10 this year.
The case was adjourned at the time for a pre-sentenced report to be prepared. He appeared before magistrates court on Friday (February 14) for sentencing.
Kaye Barnard, prosecuting, told the court the offences dated back to December 2023.
The court heard a named woman received a message from the defendant on December 29, 2023, “attempting to make up from an argument”.
Ms Barnard told the court the woman called Macfarlane but he “was not making any sense”.
Macfarlane, who initially gave his address as Windsor Lane in Knaresborough but later told the court he is staying at property in Harrogate, called the woman several times and sent her “threatening voice notes”.
The defendant threatened to kill the woman and smash her windows in, the court heard.
Ms Barnard said Macfarlane also told the woman, “I will smash your house to bits” if she did not answer his phone calls.
The court heard the woman was picked up by her mother and taken to her mother’s house. Ms Barnard said the woman’s neighbour told her she could “hear banging” coming from her home.
The 27-year-old had ripped the back door handle off the woman’s house.
When police were called, officers heard Macfarlane tell the woman over the phone:
I am going to kill you.
Ms Barnard read the woman’s victim impact statement to the court, which said:
I no longer feel safe in my own house. I have suffered with panic attacks since the incident.
My quality of life has changed dramatically.
When Macfarlane spoke to police, he told them he “said things in the heat of the moment”, the court heard.
‘He was impulsive’
Ismael Uddin, defending, acknowledged the messages were “vile in their nature”, but told the magistrates the case had taken a substantial amount of time to come to court and Macfarlane had not committed any further offences since the incident.
The court heard Macfarlane has previous convictions but Mr Uddin said there are “no other records of violence”.
“He was impulsive”, the defence said, adding it was an “isolated incident”.
Macfarlane’s pre-sentence report was not read aloud in open court.
The magistrates sentenced Macfarlane to a 24-month community order. He is required to complete 26 sessions of an accredited programme and 10 rehabilitation activity days.
Macfarlane was also made subject to a 90-day alcohol-abstinence-monitoring tag.
A two-year restraining order was also imposed on the defendant.
Macfarlane was ordered to pay £85 in prosecution costs and a £114 surcharge.
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