'Every day she woke up she wondered what was going to happen'

A ‘pathologically jealous’ thug held a knife to his ex-partner’s throat on ‘many occasions’ and banned her from attending a work Christmas party. Szymon Klimkiewikz, 24, has been locked up after subjecting the woman to a two-year campaign of controlling and coercive behaviour.

Klimkiewikz was angered when she encountered men at work and even banned her from attending Christmas parties, Manchester Crown Court heard. He became violent and made menacing threats, including telling her that if he was sent to prison ‘he would make it over something proper’.

Prosecutors told how Klimkiewikz, from Bolton, became ‘pathologically jealous’ during their relationship. He would snatch her phone from her hand and look through it, and didn’t like it when she worked with other men.

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Klimkiewikz would ring her when she was at work, and called her a ‘sl**’ if he heard men in the background. At times she became so distressed by these calls that she had to leave work early, prosecutor Laura Broome said.

“The defendant forbade her from attending work related events such as Christmas parties,” the prosecutor said. She said Klimkiewikz controlled how his partner dressed, and locked her in the house and slapped her if he didn’t approve.

She said that some incidents caused bruising. The woman took pictures of her injuries but Klimkiewikz would delete them from her phone.

When she went out, Klimkiewikz ordered her to inform him of her location every hour. She became ‘increasingly isolated’ and was prevented from seeing her friends.

Ms Broome said Klimkiewikz would threaten her with a knife. “She describes on many occasions the defendant held a knife to her throat,” the prosecutor said. On one occasion when the victim said she would contact police, Klimkiewikz said ‘if he went to prison he would make it over something proper’.

She broke off the relationship in April last year, but Klimkiewikz went on to harass her for another six months. In threatening messages, he said he’d kill her and warned that she would be ‘f***** up’.

He also assaulted her on two occasions, kicking her and spitting in her face. “She describes being mentally exhausted, and doesn’t feel safe in her own home,” Ms Broome said, describing the impact of Klimkiewikz’s crimes on his former partner.

“Every day when she woke up she wondered what was going to happen that day. Even when she ended the relationship, she felt the defendant was doing his best to control and belittle her.”

Klimkiewikz was not legally represented at the hearing, after confirming he wanted to proceed to being sentenced without a lawyer. Asked if he wanted to say anything, Klimkiewikz, via an interpreter, said: “She has no reason herself to fear for her safety.”

He said he had no intention of contacting his ex-partner. Asked if he wanted to say anything more, Klimkiewikz, who has no previous offences on his record, said: “Maybe just to apologise. But not necessarily.”

He claimed there was ‘a little bit of untruth’ in her statement and alleged she ‘made up a little bit of these stories’. He denied putting a knife to her throat.

But the judge said he accepted the prosecution case. Following his arrest, Klimkiewikz said he ‘regretted his aggressive and improper behaviour’ and wanted to apologise to her. The judge, Recorder Gavin McBride, said the case was too serious for anything other than a prison sentence.

He was sentenced to 28 months in jail. Klimkiewikz, of Longden Street, Bolton, pleaded guilty to engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour between May 2021 and April last year, harassment between May last year and January, and two counts of assault by beating.