A man has been jailed for telling his probation officer that he was going to ‘cut his mother into little pieces’ over Christmas.
Stuart Gray, 56, was engaged in a phone call with probation service worker Charlotte Cole when he told her he was contemplating suicide and self-harm, and that he had a knife.
He told the officer he was planning on “killing his mother by poisoning her and cutting her into little pieces over the Christmas period”, according to prosecutor Christopher Wing.
During the 38-minute call on 13 December last year, the defendant, of Rodbourne Road, Swindon, was “angry, shouting and verbally abusive”, claiming he had consumed 13 beers.
He also made concerning remarks about hurting members of the public.
Alcoholic Gray was arrested by police officers about an hour later.
Appearing at Swindon Crown Court on 28 January, he was sentenced for making threats to kill.
The court heard how Gray has previous convictions for offences relating to sex workers, including a conviction for false imprisonment of a street prostitute in 2014.
At present, he is serving a suspended sentence for making threats to kill a prostitute. He told a police officer, during a phone call, how he intended on killing her. Mr Wing described it as an “unusual case”.
“Who knows what would have happened if your mother had come to your address that day”, Judge Peter Crabtree OBE said.
Adding: “The breach occurred at an early stage but the level of compliance is reasonable given that the alcohol treatment requirement hadn’t started.
“There is a strong public interest in addressing your alcohol misuse, not only for you but for the public in general.”
Judge Crabtree felt it was “unjust” to activate his suspended sentence, but jailed Gray for three months.
Having already spent six weeks in custody on remand, he will serve one further week before he is released.
