A MAN threatened to ‘chop up’ his former partner’s lover while threatening to kill her before blackmailing the man out of £1,000.

Daniel Richmond embarked on a ‘disgusting’ rampage of threats and intimidation after he was dumped after being caught cheating by the mother of his two children.

The 31-year-old reacted with extreme threats of violence when he was told that his former partner had moved on with another man.

Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said Richmond self-harmed in an attempt to ingratiate himself back into her life before stealing her keys, mobile phone and bank card on July 17 this year.

He said: “He withdrew his wages and then he started sending menacing texts to the man demanding money, he said he wanted £1,000 as he had slept with the defendant’s former girlfriend; he said ‘if he didn’t pay up he would find him and cut him up into pieces and cut his legs off’.

“The defendant repeated his demands and told the man that he was ‘getting it’.”

Mr Newcombe said the man was so scared of the ‘nutter’ that he transferred £1,000 to the shared bank account – the defendant’s partner had no idea what was happening and was mortified to learn the money had been paid.

The court heard how Richmond then turned his anger to his former partner and started to leave a number of threatening messages on her phone and social media.

He said Richmond threatened to ‘kill her’ and to tell social services that she took drugs before threatening to burn down her brother’s pub and set fire to her father’s car.

Mr Newcombe said the defendant had a previous conviction for battery on his former partner.

Richmond, of Auckland Avenue, Darlington, pleaded guilty to blackmail, making threats to kill and breaching a restraining order.

In mitigation, David Lamb said his client had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and had shown genuine remorse.

Judge Jonathan Carroll said: "You behaved disgracefully, in fact the word disgraceful doesn't get close to how badly behaved you were, you were out of control and there was a viciousness to your behaviour when you were not getting your own way."

The judge told Richmond that his partner moving on was no excuse for his irrational and vicious response.

He added: "You started to make threats to her and you targeted the man and started to threats to him and put him in real fear.

"Then rather pathetically you self-harmed to try to emotionally manipulate her. She was so concerned she took you to the doctors and put a roof over your head – you repaid her by stealing her keys, phone and bank card."

Dealing with the blackmail threats, he said: "He was so scared about the threats and the fear that you would come to his mother's house, that he paid you that money."

Richmond was jailed for four years and issued with a ten-year restraining order.