Kidnapper dragged ex down 12 flights of stairs and threatened to hang himself
A suicidal ex-boyfriend who dragged his former partner to a park and threatened to hang himself before her eyes has been jailed for more than three years.
Paul Attwell breached his bail conditions to visit his ex-girlfriend's house, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
The 28-year-old forced entry to the flat before dragging her down 12 flights of stairs and to a park around five minutes' walk from her flat, prosecutors said.
There, he tried to hang himself with a rope, Mr Rob Edwards, prosecuting, said.
Attwell, of The Broadway, in Dudley, admitted one count of kidnap and was sentenced to three years and nine months in jail for what Judge John Wait described it as a 'terrifying' attack on February 17.
Mr Edwards told the court Attwell had seen his ex-girlfriend as she got off the bus in Brierley Hill at around 9.30pm but went to his friend's house.
At around 2am the following morning, the victim's buzzer rang on her flat but she ignored it, assuming it to be Attwell, he said.
"At 2.10am he pleaded with her to let him come in but she told him to go away," he said.
"Her concerns were such that she began to make a call to the police at 2.22am.
"He was banging on the door and the defendant forced entry to her flat and has taken her mobile phone, throwing it down a rubbish chute.
"He then grabbed her by her hair, tearing out clumps of it."
Attwell dragged her down 12 flights of stairs and to a nearby park, even hiding in a bush to evade a police car on the way, Mr Edwards said.
"The defendant made a loop with the rope he had with him and told the victim he was intending to commit suicide, however she prevented him from doing so," he said.
"She ran off but he called her back and she insisted he went to his sister's address to get some help.
"He said he wanted to kill himself and that she must be present when he did so."
In a victim statement, his ex-girlfriend said that she felt like the situation was like a 'ticking time bomb'.
Mr Stephen Hamblett, for Attwell, said his client's life had been affected by drink and drugs since the age of 14.
"He tells me he has no intention to move back to Brierley Hill or Dudley," he said.
"He knows the relationship is completely over and has no desire to come back."
Judge Wait told the father-of-five: "What you did on that night was terrifying towards her; taking her down 12 flights of stairs, holding her by her hair and dragging her along the street in her night clothes."
Attwell was also given a five-year restraining order to keep him away from the victim, who was not named in court.
