A COVENTRY man cut the brake pipes on his ex-partner’s car, putting her and other people in danger, after repeatedly breaching a court order to keep away from her.
Mark Everett was jailed for four years and four months after pleading guilty at Warwick Crown Court to causing damage being reckless whether lives would be endangered.
Everett (28) of The Cornfield, Canley, Coventry, had also admitted charges of breaching a restraining order, for which he was given concurrent 12-month sentences.
Prosecutor Ekwall Tiwana said that in April last year a restraining order was imposed by Coventry magistrates, banning Everett from contacting Alex Green or going to various addresses.
But on October 18, under previously agreed contact arrangements, she went to hand over the children at his parents’ home, only for him to turn up while she was there, in breach of the order.
Later that month, Miss Green was visiting her parents, and as she was leaving, Everett emerged from a neighbouring house, grabbed her by her face and pushed her against the door frame.
In November, she received a number of phone calls from him, again in breach of the restraining order.
The on January 1, Miss Green was at a friend’s home, and when she went outside for a cigarette, he approached her and took hold of her throat until she pushed him away.
She had left her Ford Fiesta outside her friend’s home when she had arrived the previous night, and when she drove away that afternoon, the brakes failed.
Fortunately, she was able to stop without a collision, and was shaken up but unhurt.
Mr Tiwana said Everett sent a text to Miss Green’s friend, telling her what he had done and that he dreaded to think what would have happened if she had had an accident with the children in the car with her.
Marc Davies, defending, said the text had been sent early that morning, informing Miss Green’s friend: “I’ve cut her brake pipes. Tell her to go and check if she wants.”
Jailing Everett, Recorder Martin Butterworth told him: “I have to sentence you for various offences relating to a relationship you had had with Alex Green.
“Your previous convictions amount to a course of conduct which is very worrying, and you were sentenced to a restraining order on the 13th of April.
“You have continued to breach this order and, most seriously, you have damaged the brake pipes of her car which caused a great deal of danger to her.
“The pre-sentence report demonstrates a lack of remorse,” Recorder Butterworth added.
