'Obsessive' and girlfriend he threatened to petrol bomb to marry
An 'obsessive' who warned he would petrol bomb his former girlfriend during a barrage of hundreds of phone calls and threatening text messages after she jilted him is now planning to marry the woman, a judge heard.
The couple became engaged after the relationship was rekindled by her during prison visits while Martin Poole was being held in jail on remand waiting for the case to be resolved, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
The 29-year-old made over 300 unanswered calls and sent hundreds of text messages to her over three days in August, several months after they parted following a year together, disclosed Miss Amrisha Parathalingam, prosecuting.
One message declared: 'Watch me petrol bomb you' while another warned: 'You are asking for it now, sly bitch. You are dead,' the court heard.
Poole also drew alongside her car scratching the side of the vehicle with his van after spotting her driving down a road, continued Miss Parathalingam.
Poole, who had a previous conviction for harassing another woman, was arrested and held in custody for five months for the case to be settled in court.
During that time he was twice attacked by other inmates, once needing up to 40 stitches in a face wound and on another occasion suffering a suspected fractured nose, revealed Mr David Swinnerton, defending.
The lawyer continued: "The woman wrote to him and visited him while he was on remand in prison. They are now engaged and planning to get married."
Mr Swinnerton said of the defendant: "He has his problems but, with the use of medication, can be a calm and law abiding individual."
Poole from Napier Road, Beechdale, Walsall, pleaded guilty to harassing the woman between August 6 and 11 last year and was given a 12 month community order by Recorder John Butterfield who told him:
"You were obsessive and oppressive in the way you repeatedly tried to contact the woman. This is your third conviction for harassment."
He added: "You have suffered considerable violence in custody. That is an appalling thing to have happened and can never be justified. I condemn it."
