Jealous burglar cut up clothing and stole passport

A jealous dad burgled his estranged partner's home and cut up every item of her clothing after finding out she was seeing someone else.

A court heard Grant Barrett made a point of deliberately cutting the crotch of every single item of her underwear and also stole her passport so she could not go on holiday.

Barrett, 29, then sent his former partner a text message demanding that she meet him or he would set fire to her car.

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A judge who jailed Barrett for 30 months said: “This was a bid to cause her as much misery as possible.”

Leeds Crown Court heard Barrett managed to obtain a key to the victim’s home without her knowledge and let himself into the house while she was out on June 10 this year.

Barrett, of England Lane, Knottingley, removed £3,000 worth of property and cash including two television sets.

He also cut all of her clothing and placed it in the bath before destroying her make-up and smashing her hair straighteners.

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The court heard many of the clothes had been taken from a suitcase which she had packed ready to go on holiday.

Barrett sent the victim a text the next day which read: “If you do not talk to me I will come down and burn your car out. Just see what I do.”

Barrett also rang the woman’s mobile phone 132 times.

The court heard Barrett had previously been in a relationship with the victim for 11 years and they have a son together.

Barrett pleaded guilty to burglary and sending a malicious communication.

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He has previous convictions for violence and drink-related offences.

Abbi Whelan, mitigating, said Barrett committed the offences as he struggled to cope with the breakdown of the relationship and found out his former partner was seeing some else.

Ms Whelan said Barrett had been drinking at the time.

She added: “While he clearly still loves the complainant, he realises that it is not healthy for anybody.”

Jailing Barrett, judge Christopher Batty said: “You are a controlling individual who simply could not bear it when you discovered that the complainant was seeing someone else. You decided to take some kind of revenge upon her. “She was clearly going on holiday in the near future and you decided to sabotage her plans.

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“You took her passport and you set about damaging each and every item of clothing so she had no way of taking any item with her, including disfiguring her underwear.

“This was a very, very unpleasant offence.”

The judge continued: “Whatever your true intentions were, this must have been terrifying for her.”