The man has been jailed after he sliced off his ear to threaten his ex partner. (Picture: West Yorkshire Police)
A man who sliced off part of his ear to write a bloody threatening message to his ex-girlfriend has been jailed for 16 months.
Samuel Hemingway, 24, used his blood to leave a sinister warning on a wall outside the woman’s home, before discarding his partially severed ear on her dressing table.
The incident was described as the culmination of a pattern of threatening behaviours, Bradford Crown Court heard, which left the woman feeling scared, numb and petrified.
When the police arrested the 24-year-old, he told officers: ‘All I’ve done is write that blood on the wall.’
Prosecutor Nicola Hoskins said Hemingway had seen his ex-partner out in his hometown of Halifax, West Yorkshire, the night before the incident. He confessed he had been drinking and taking cocaine, which he said made him ‘lose his head’ and even contemplate suicide.
Hemingway had previously warned his ex he would ‘break her legs’ and on one occasion followed her home before confronting her with a hammer. Hemingway had also slapped his victim across the face on two separate occasions.
Miss Hoskins also recalled a previous instance in which the victim reported hearing a scratching noise outside her flat. Police later found a large knife on the doormat which had been used to carve the message ‘you are dead tick tock’ on the wall.
Hemingway was arrested following that incident, but was later released on bail with conditions not to contact the complainant or go to her home.
He was handed a 16-month sentence by Judge Jonathan Gibson, who said: ‘I accept that you are remorseful and I also accept, and it is patently obvious, that you couldn’t cope with the breakdown of the relationship, but that was no reason to go and terrify the complainant in the way that you did.’
Defending Hemingway, barrister Taryn Turner said he was struggling to cope with the relationship breakdown, suggesting he may have underlying mental health issues which led to these extreme behaviours.