Yahoo News 'I'll shoot you in the head with a crossbow bolt' - man's chilling threat to relative's ex
A heavy-drinking troublemaker turned nasty on his own birthday and bombarded another man with a barrage of menacing and abusive threats, including that he would "shoot him in the head with a crossbow bolt".
Aggressive and bad-tempered Leighton Cooke told the intended victim that he was a "dead man" and he wrongly boasted that he had served 14 years of a life prison sentence. He got "wound up" and lost his temper after hearing claims about the other man's supposed behaviour towards a woman, Hull Crown Court heard.
Cooke, 40, of St George's Road, off hessle -road>Hessle Road, west Hull, admitted harassing a man, possessing a knife in public and causing criminal damage on April 22.
READ MORE:
Hannah Turner, prosecuting, said that a female member of Cooke's family told him about problems that she claimed to have suffered towards the end of her relationship with a man. Cooke sent a series of threatening voice messages and voice notes to the man.
They included claiming that he had served 14 years of a life sentence and that he would shoot him in the head with a crossbow bolt. Cooke went round to the man's home at about 10pm.
He had a knife with him. He shouted at the man to come out, even though he was not there, and he warned that he would be a "dead man". Cooke caused significant damage, estimated at nearly £1,000, to the window and door area.
The man later said that the incident had made him worry for the safety of his children and it had affected his mental health. He dreaded to think what could have happened and, if it had, his children would have been "terrified".
Cooke had convictions for 56 previous offences, including many of theft and similar and one of assault. He had been jailed in 2020 for 900 days for domestic burglary.
Stephen Robinson, mitigating, said that Cooke became involved in the fall-out of the "acrimonious" relationship between a female member of his family and the man that he later harassed.
Cooke was told about what had supposedly happened between the couple. It was Cooke's birthday on the day of the disturbance and he had been drinking.
He had suffered an alcohol problem in the past and he thought that "one drink wouldn't do any harm". After speaking to the woman about the problems that she claimed to have suffered during the relationship, he drank more alcohol and lost his temper.
"Rather than letting the police deal with it, he took matters into his own hands," said Mr Robinson. Cooke sent a series of "increasingly strange" messages to the man.
These would have put the man in fear. "Things took a more sinister turn when he turned up," said Mr Robinson. The man sent a "laughing" message to Cooke, leading to the trouble.
"There is no excuse for this behaviour and this disgraceful incident," said Mr Robinson. "The defendant is sorry for it. There was a risk of disorder."
Nobody was at the house at the time that Cooke went there and nobody was impacted by his behaviour, although it was seen by a neighbour. "While he had a knife, he did not even use it to damage property," said Mr Robinson. "He used his hands to do that and injured one of them."
The woman and the man had split up. "There is every chance that this behaviour won't be repeated," added Mr Robinson. Cooke had suffered a drug problem in the past but he had "got a grip of that" and was off drugs.
He had even stopped taking heroin substitute methadone. There was a time when alcohol replaced that but this was also under control.
Judge Richard Woolfall said that Cooke was told by a female family member about issues that arose at the end of her relationship with the man. Cooke started to drink more.
"You appear to have got yourself wound up by drinking more and losing your temper and foolishly deciding to take matters into your own hands," said Judge Woolfall.
Common sense "went out of the window" and Cooke decided that he was going to sort it out. He sent a large number of voicemails and voice notes to the other man, all of which were "increasingly abusive".
Cooke threatened to kill the man and said that he would shoot him in the head with a crossbow bolt. The man "told you to do your worst" and Cooke turned up at his home that evening.
"You were very wound up," said Judge Woolfall. "You attended at his home with a knife. Fortunately, he was not home. I dread to think what might have happened had he have been there. Even worse, what if his children had been there?
"You were shouting at him to come out. You were telling him that he was a dead man and telling him to let you in. It demonstrates the state that you were in."
Cooke claimed during one of the threats that he had served 14 years of a life sentence but, in reality, although this was not the case, he risked "serving a life sentence but in instalments" if he carried on committing crime.
Incidents where someone has a knife often ended with people losing their lives. It just took one incident with a knife and somebody could die. "Families lose love ones and people are seriously injured," said Judge Woolfall.
Cooke was jailed for 17 months and he was given a four-year restraining order.
