Fordingbridge man Micky Yeatman jailed for 30 months at Southampton Crown Court for stalking ex

A STALKER who threatened to burn down his ex-partner’s house and leave her “jobless, carless and homeless” has been jailed for 30 months.

Micky Yeatman (29), of Fordingbridge, began bombarding his former girlfriend with “abhorrent” messages after she ended their relationship early this year.

He was convicted at Southampton Crown Court on one count of stalking, two of common assault and two of criminal damage after having admitting the charges.

Prosecutor Keely Harvey said Yeatman’s offending began with him calling his ex saying he was going to damage her property.

She said: “During the relationship he would get angry and threaten to do things, [the victim’s] way to calm him down was to placate him. If she ever cried he would call her a wimp.”

After the relationship ended, Yeatman followed his victim while she met friends in Fordingbridge. The court heard he followed the group “threatening to stab them all” before the victim fled and returned home.

Yeatman later turned up to her home and banged on a window until it broke. The victim later told officers: “That sort of behaviour happened when he didn’t get his own way.”

Yeatman told his victim that if he saw her at the pub he would turn up and “machete everyone there”.

The court heard on one occasion the victim saw Yeatman sitting on the roof of a nursery she had to walk past, and he would turn up at her home around “five times a week” after the relationship ended.

He threatened to firebomb her home, and it was estimated he sent her 50 threatening messages since January.

Ms Harvey said: “He said he was going to make her homeless, carless and jobless, and if she called the police about it he would slit her throat and then his own.”

The court heard his victim feared he would follow through on his threats.

Yeatman went to his ex’s home and kicked her car doors, pulling wires from the vehicle, also threatening to damage the brakes. He also broke a banister in her home and broke her phone while she was trying to dial for help.

The court heard Yeatman sent his victim a photo of a car riddled with bullet holes, saying this is how she would be found if she tried to find another partner.

Ms Harvey said: “He would call her in the early hours and, if she didn’t answer, he would ask her where she was and who she was with.

“He asked her who she belonged to, and when she said, ‘nobody’ he said, ‘no, you belong to me’.”

The court heard Yeatman assaulted his victim on 14th April, grabbing her by the wrist after she threatened to call the police.

Ms Harvey said the second assault charge related to Yeatman throwing hot coffee over his victim, leaving her with marks on her arm.

Yeatman also threatened to kill himself by jumping off a bridge in Ringwood or throwing himself in front of a car.

The victim estimated Yeatman owed her around £800 after she loaned him money to cover gambling debts and for damage he caused in her home.

Ms Harvey said Yeatman’s victim now feels “like a shell of her former self”.

In a statement, the victim said: “I’m not the same person I was before this. I want closure but I don’t know how this will happen.

“I feel now I’m a poor judge of character, and I fear this will affect my future and new relationships.”

She said she still suffers panic attacks and now sleeps downstairs because she “feels she can keep her son safer”.

She added: “I have to live with the trauma of his threats and his callous behaviour. I don’t know what the future holds right now.”

Yeatman had seven convictions for 13 previous offences, including domestic violence and assault.

Daniel Sawyer, mitigating, said his client recognises “substance abuse leads him to offending” and he has effectively “become clean” while in prison.

The court also heard Yeatman suffers from anti-social personality disorder, depression and anxiety.

Judge Nicholas Rowland told Yeatman: “This is a catalogue of dreadful behaviour to your ex-partner, someone who you should have been looking after, not treating in such a reprehensible manner.”

Noting several “serious aggravating features”, Judge Rowland handed down a 30-month jail term for stalking, with two concurrent two-month jail terms for common assault and two concurrent one-month terms for criminal damage.

Yeatman was also made the subject of a five-year restraining order preventing him from contacting his victim.