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Petrol threat partner spared prison

A grieving man who threatened to burn down his partner's home while brandishing a can of petrol has been spared an immediate jail sentence.

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Stafford Crown Court

Andrew Hancox, of Rugeley, fetched the container of fuel from the garden shed and told Lorraine Warner: "If you want to live you had better leave because I'm going to burn the house down."

Ms Warner eventually managed to get the can off him, but the defendant began throwing things around the kitchen, then picked up some knives and waved them around.

"She thought he was going to kill her or possibly turn the knife on himself," said Miss Laura Culley, prosecuting, at Stafford Crown Court.

She locked herself in the conservatory and shouted to Hancox to put the knives down. When police arrived at the property in Phoenix Close, Rugeley, Hancox was holding a knife to his abdomen and officers had to intervene.

It came after MsWarner had attempted to end their relationship - sparking an angry reaction from Hancox.

Within minutes he had started making the threats and then got hold of the petrol can, the court heard.

Hancox, aged 47, of Watson Close, who admitted a charge of threatening to destroy property, was given an eight-month prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered to pay £250 costs, plus £100 surcharge.

But the court was told that Hancox only had a 'hazy' memory of the incident and that he had been drinking heavily after his mother died.

Recorder Mr Christopher Goodchild told him: "Making threats as you did, in drink and in grief, as I accept, is a very serious matter."

Miss Culley said the incident, on August 29, happened when Ms Warner told the defendant she had had enough after a three-and-a-half-year relationship.

He had been drinking, was looking for an argument and accused her of being lazy, Miss Culley told the court. He made the threats when she started packing his belongings.

When questioned, Hancox said he had just wanted to scare his partner, he was ashamed and accepted the relationship was over.

Mr Rob Perry, defending, said: "The catalyst for these events was the death of his mother. He started drinking heavily and that had an effect on the relationship. His recollection of events that evening is fairly hazy."

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