Magistrate says man was "absolutely crackers" to send death threats (From The Advertiser Series)

Magistrate says man was "absolutely crackers" to send death threats

6:00pm Thursday 21st March 2013 in News By Joanna Morris

A MAGISTRATE today told a man he was “absolutely crackers” to have sent death threats to his ex girlfriend.

On Monday March 4, Darlington man David John Robert Catleugh, 30, sent his ex-partner a text saying “I could just kill you all”.

In a statement read out to Darlington Magistrate’s Court, she said: “This text made me feel extremely anxious...I did not know what state he was in. I should not put up with this abuse from him and will not put up with it any more. He needs to see that it is unacceptable.”

Amrit Jandoo, mitigating, said: "He accepts he should not have sent the message. It was extremely foolish of him to have sent those words, which were quite threatening but there was no genuine attempt to carry out the threat.”

Chair of the bench, Leslie Abbott, gave Catleugh, of Clifton Road, a conditional discharge for 12 months and ordered him to pay costs of £80 and compensation of £75.

He said: “Daft, wasn’t it? Absolutely crackers. You can trace all those messages easily and if you send them, you are going to end up here.”