A St Albans decorator who injured his former partner when he brandished a knife was jailed for 18 months today (Tuesday, January 31).
Lee Gardner, 53, let himself into his daughter’s flat where he found the woman, who had been in a relationship with him in the 1990s.
He shouted: “Where’s my stuff and where’s my f…… daughter?”, St Albans Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Iwona Boesche said he pulled a knife from his bag. In the confrontation he caused an injury to the woman’s ear. His father, who was also in the flat, pushed him away.
Gardner told the victim if she reported him he would “f…… kill her family.”
Later that day, Sunday, October 9, 2022, he contacted his daughter and threatened to carve her ex-partner into pieces. He broke a wing mirror on his car, causing £150 damage.
Gardner, of Lattimore Road, St Albans appeared for sentence, having pleaded guilty to affray, malicious communication and criminal damage.
Defending, Kane Sharpe said Gardner thought he would see his daughter who had been storing his property at her flat.
He said he had reached in his bag for a cigarette when he pulled out a paring knife that he had been using on a job in Bishop’s Stortford.
“In a moment of frustration he brandished it to scare her. He did not realise he had the knife. He accepts he recklessly caused her an injury in the scuffle.
“It was an abominable piece of decision-making. He just wanted to get his stuff back. He is desperately sorry for his actions that day.”
Jailing him, Judge Michael Roques said: “It was truly awful behaviour.”
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