A THUG who threatened to smash a bottle of pink gin off his ex-girlfriend’s face went on to break into, and trash, her house.

Durham Crown Court heard Paul Routledge had been in a relationship with the woman for seven years and they have a son together.

The pair were estranged but he made contact with her and sent her a threatening text message.

He reportedly said: “If you come to Kelloe you will be going to hospital and I will be going to jail.”

Ian West, prosecuting, said the woman returned home one day to find her kitchen window smashed with a broken gin bottle outside.

There was a hole inside her 55inch flatscreen television, her bedroom had been wrecked and their son’s PlayStation 4 had been stolen.

Routledge, 31, of Kent Terrace, Haswell Plough, then called to taunt her and told her he would torch a relatives car if she called the police.

In a victim impact statement she told the court: “I do not feel safe in my home. I am scared he might kill me.

“I from post traumatic stress disorder from this incident and it has affected my mental health.

“I often have flashbacks about what happened.”

Mr West said: “She said the relationship had been violent and she had been assaulted.”

Routledge pleaded guilty to harassment on July 6, burglary between August 1 and 3 and resisting a PC when he was arrested days later.

Martin Scarborough, mitigating, said: “He knows he will receive a custodial sentence today and that it will be immediate.”

The court heard he also admitted theft from a car on September 8 as well as two counts of burglary on September 9.

He broke into a VW Beetle in Prince Bishops Shopping Centre in Durham city centre before he broke into student accommodation on Claypath.

He was disturbed when young man who lives there found him in the kitchen.

Routledge was escorted from the property by the student but he then smashed his way into JD Sports in the city centre.

Police arrested him after following a trail of clothes from sports store.

The court heard he had 15 convictions for 28 offences.

The damage to his former partner’s house totalled £1,800.

Jailing him for 38 months, Judge Christopher Prince said: “This was conduct intended to maximise fear and distress and took significant planning.”