A jilted boyfriend accused of breaking into his ex-partner’s home, stealing her cat and setting fire to the property went on trial.
Glen Dempsey, 23, is alleged to have taken the pet during the second of two burglaries at Shauna Robbins’ flat after she dumped him in October last year.
Liverpool Crown Court heard how Dempsey, of Earle Road, Wavertree , then sent her videos of a door being closed on the animal’s head.
Carmel Wilde, prosecuting, said the couple were together for six months and lived in Brook Road, Walton , before Dempsey moved out.
She said he then sent Miss Robbins text messages threatening to kill her brother and “slit her throat” and demanded she returned paperwork.
Ms Wilde said Miss Robbins left her flat on November 1 and went to stay with a friend.
But when she returned on November 3, she discovered the front door forced open and her sofa, rug and coffee table damaged.
Ms Wilde said she also found a knife and screwdriver, which had not been there previously.
Dempsey had asked if he could come round, but when Miss Robbins said she was not there, he replied: “I will just kick the door in then.”
Ms Wilde said: “He said he had photos of the complainant that would upset her and he would put them on Facebook. That is what he did.
“She would say they were inappropriate photos. They were deleted later on.”
Ms Wilde said Dempsey sent further texts threatening to “cut her brother from ear to ear”.
She said: “Miss Robbins said ‘I’m not going to be there, you’re going to have to break-in if you want your stuff’. The prosecution say that is exactly what he did.”
Miss Robbins left the flat on November 6 and returned the next day to find her cat and some coursework missing.
Ms Wilde said: “The defendant then sent Miss Robbins further abusive messages and videos of the cat being mistreated by being locked in a bath and having a door closed on its head.
“At that point she deleted his number and blocked him on Facebook .”
Police were informed her flat had been set alight on November 8, in what Ms Wilde said experts found was a deliberate fire.
She said: “Miss Robbins will say she received some messages that the defendant was threatening to burn the flat down but didn’t take it seriously.”
Dempsey was arrested on November 9 and police found Miss Robbins’ coursework at his home.
Brook Road in Walton. Picture from Google Street View.
Ms Wilde said neighbour Rafal Marko – who discovered and put out the blaze – would tell the jury Dempsey asked to borrow a screwdriver on November 7.
She said Mr Marko lent him the tool and later saw an unscrewed lock on the flat’s front door.
Mr Marko said Dempsey returned the screwdriver, but he later heard loud banging coming from the flat.
Dempsey accepted sending the texts, but told police he left the flat for good on October 28.
He said he left the country and Miss Robbins was trying to frame him.
Dempsey later said Miss Robbins may have left her coursework at his house and told officers Mr Marko must be wrong as he had not been to the flat.
However, Ms Wilde said: “The defence will assert and accept that Mr Dempsey was there borrowing a screwdriver off Mr Marko, and took the cat because he was concerned for its welfare.
“They will say he was allowed permission to enter the flat by her saying ‘you will have to break in then if you want your stuff’.”
She said there were no eye-witnesses and the jury would have to use their “common sense” to “put the pieces of the jigsaw together”.
Dempsey denies two counts of burglary and arson recklessly endangering life.
(Proceeding)
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/