Terrified woman messaged friend fearing possessive Leeds ex would murder her
A woman became so terrified that her possessive ex would murder her that she quietly messaged a friend as he dished out abuse.
David Garside was ordered by a court to stay away from the woman, but he managed to convince her that he had changed and wormed his way back into her life.
Leeds Crown Court heard that the 57-year-old was given a restraining order due to his behaviour towards the woman after a turbulent four-year on/off relationship.
But the pair “bumped” into each other in Leeds city centre in August last year and convinced her he had mended his ways.
They started taking walks together, but after two months the abuse began again. He became angry if she spoke to other people and bombarded her with messages and calls.
Garside, 57, was not living with the woman but would stay at her home and refused to leave.
On April 26 matters came to a head when they had both been drinking and they began to argue, with Garside turning aggressive, prosecutor Emily Thorbjornsen told the court.
She then sent the message to her friend, begging for help.
The police were contacted and Garside was arrested at her address.
Garside, of Harehills Avenue, later admitted breaching the restraining order, which the court was told he had done several times before.
Mitigating, Zarreen Alam-Cheetham said: “He regrets breaching the restraining order. He accepts she does not want to be with him. He has no intention of speaking to her again.”
She that Garside, who has four convicitons for six offences, only began offending in 2022 and was now “stuck in a pattern”.
Judge Kate Rayfield said Garside had been on a “three-year bender” of offending but said she would give him a chance to “break the cycle”.
She gave him a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years.
He was also ordered to complete a 26-session accredited programme to address his behaviour, given a six-month GPS tag to monitor his whereabouts and given a five-year restraining order.
He was also ordered to stay away from the Oulton area where his ex lives.