A MAN who threatened a woman with with a screwdriver had felt ‘protective’ towards her after seeing another man put his arm around her, heard Skipton Magistrates Court.

Edward Read, 30, had drunk 10 cans of lager and two bottles of Budweiser when he was called late at night by the woman, who he had once been in a relationship with, and who had wanted medication to treat a friend for heartburn, the court heard on Friday.

After delivering the medication to the woman to the property in Main Street, Ingleton, he stayed drinking with her and her friend and the mood was good, until the other man put his arm around her, said Melanie Ibbotson prosecuting.

Read started swearing and became abusive and so the woman asked him to leave. The police were called, Read appeared to leave, but then returned with a screwdriver that was stored on top of a boiler in the shared communal space of the apartments, said Miss Ibbotson.

Read told the woman he was going to stab her with the screwdriver and kicked her door; after about 20 minutes, the police arrived and Read was arrested.

The woman told police she had been in a sexual relationship with Read and believed him to be jealous about the other man. She had been very frightened by his actions, and had moved out of her flat for three nights to stay with her parents.

In a victim statement, she said she suffered from mental health issues, did not usually like being around people and Read’s actions had broken her ‘safe zone’.

Read admitted using threatening, abusive or insulting words or  behaviour. 

In mitigation, Keith Blackwell, said Read had known the woman for about 20 years and they had gone to the same school. They had been close in the past, but not in recent times.

There was no question of Read being jealous, but he had felt protective towards the woman and his memory had become ‘patchy’ after drinking so much, he said. It was a ‘strange situation exacerbated by alcohol’.

Read was tackling his drinking by going to North Yorkshire Horizons and had just got a job again after not working during the coronavirus pandemic.

Magistrates adjourned sentencing on Read, of Main Street, Ingleton, for reports to June 18.