Man who strangled ex and rammed female taxi driver's car in Pontefract is jailed
He told her: “I’m going to kill someone before I go back to jail”
A man who strangled his former partner and rammed a female taxi driver's car in Pontefract has been jailed.
Luke Strickland was sat in a car with his ex-girlfriend in the driveway at his mother's house when he became aggressive, Leeds Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor, Joel Wootten, said Strickland, 27, grabbed her by the throat and pinned her against the car seat during the incident on December 13 last year.
Mr Wootten said the woman felt her throat tighten and and her face tingle as he Strickland kept his grip for 30 seconds.
Mr Wooten said in the following days Strickland made numerous phone calls to the woman and left a voice note saying: "I'm going to kill someone before I go back to jail and it might even be you."
The court heard a taxi driver was travelling along Estcourt Road towards Marlpit Lane, Darrington, just after 9am on January 13 when she noticed a Ford Fiesta in her rear view mirror.
Mr Wootten said: "It appeared to her he had lost control coming round a corner. He began driving closely to her car. He positioned his vehicle as if to overtake and she heard a bang.
"He had driven in to the driver's rear side of the car. He overtook and slowed and opened his door. He waved an object at her she believed to be a tyre iron.”
Strickland got out of his car and started shouting at the woman.
The woman drove away and Strickland followed her on to Baghill Lane in Pontefract.
Strickland drove around chicanes on the wrong side of the road and the woman called 999.
When she got back to her taxi office the woman noticed damage to the driver's side of the car.
Three days later the woman was filling her car with petrol at Shell on Bondgate in Pontefract when she saw Strickland's Fiesta pull up next to her.
Mr Wootten said: "He shouted at her aggressively. She said 'you don't go ramming taxi drivers.'”
Mr Wootten said Strickland was verbally abusive and said 'I'll be back, you watch.'"
The woman went in to the garage and asked staff to call police.
Mr Wootton said: "She saw him circling the petrol station for some time."
Strickland, of no fixed abode, admitted intentional strangulation and using threatening words or behaviour in connection with his former partner.
He admitted threatening a person with an offensive weapon, dangerous driving and using threatening words or behaviour in connection with the taxi driver.
Strickland has eight previous convictions for 15 offences including harassment and drug driving.
He was handed a 16 month jail sentence suspended for two years in June 2025 for possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and threatening to damage property.
Satpal Roth-Sharma, mitigating, said: "He seeks to move out of the area to the coast and begin working."
Ms Roth Sharma said Strickland is remorseful. She said he has completed a painting and decorating course and a manual handling certificate and wants to work in the construction industry.
Judge Simon Batiste activated the full term of the 16 month suspended sentence and jailed Strickland for a total of four years and two months.
Judge Batiste imposed a ten year restraining order banning Strickland from contacting both women.
And he banned Strickland from driving for five years.