An abusive thug who threatened to "murder" his partner and "drink her blood" is back behind bars after breaching a court order.
A judge at Mold Crown Court ordered Matthew Winstanley's video link be put on mute after he disrupted prosecutor Brian Treadwell who was trying to lay out the extent of the abuse that Winstanley's partner, Brittany Gannon, from Greenfield, Flintshire had endured. Winstanley, 31, of Alderwood Avenue in Speke, was subject to a year-long restraining order when he was locked up for kicking and stamping on the mum-of-one's face.
Mr Treadwell said Ms Gannon had wanted to "continue their relationship" when he came out of prison but the judge overruled this for her own safety and wellbeing. Despite the order remaining in place, Winstanley breached it by sending letters to Ms Gannon while he was behind bars, NorthWalesLive reports.
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The court heard that, once the relationship began again in January 2023, he would binge on alcohol and drugs and become violent again. The court heard how he would let himself into Miss Gannon's Greenfield home in the early hours of the morning with a key he refused to hand back to her.
He also threatened to "murder" the mum and "drink her blood", Mr Treadwell said. Winstanley also left "vulgar" and abusive voice messages on Miss Gannon's phone, threatening to "bury an axe in her" and saying he'd "leather" Ms Gannon and her mother.
The judge was told the 31-year-old defendant also insulted Miss Gannon's young daughter. Defending, Dafydd Roberts, said he did not seek to minimise how frightening such "unpleasant" threats would have been to the victim.
He told the judge that Winstanley was "on a spiral of self destruction" at the time, also abusing alcohol and cocaine. He told the judge how the scary phone messages he left Miss Gannon have since been played back to the defendant who accepted being "ashamed".
Judge Nicola Saffman acknowledged that Miss Gannon clearly had "very strong feelings" for the defendant and wanted to rekindle their relationship, but accepts something had to be done to protect her and her family from him. She imposed an extra two years and eight months on top of an already ongoing sentence and created a fresh restraining order, banning him from having contact with Miss Gannon, her daughter or mum for the next eight years.
Winstanley who is currently serving a prison sentence for the battery of Ms Gannon, pleaded guilty to harassment and breaching a restraining order.
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