A jilted boyfriend held his terrified 16-year-old partner hostage and attacked her four times after she tried to leave him.
Riley Northcott rang the victim’s father during the ordeal to tell him he planned to sexually assault the girl, who could be heard screaming in the background.
The police had already been called twice to separate Northcott from the girl but he used emotional blackmail to force her to go to his home in Heathfield.
He told her he would kill himself unless she did so and posted a photo on social media of him holding a knife to his throat.
When she got there he refused to let her leave and assaulted her twice more. He held her prisoner overnight and she was only rescued after his own sister rang the police to say he had ’gone mental’.
Northcott, aged 19, was branded as selfish and callous by a judge at Exeter Crown Court who imposed a suspended sentence but ordered him to attend a ’Building Better Relationships’ course.
The victim’s father stormed out of court in a rage after hearing that the sentence was being suspended.
Northcott, aged 19, of Moorland Gate, Heathfield, near Newton Abbot, admitted putting the girl in fear of violence by harassment and four counts of battery.
He was jailed for 15 months, suspended for two years, ordered to attend 15 days of rehabilitation activities and the anti-domestic violence course, and do 120 hours unpaid community work by Recorder Simon Levene.
He told him:"This was one long episode of really bad and very abusive behaviour which included forceful assaults and the headbutting, grabbing, dragging and throwing of the victim.
"In effect, you held her prisoner and while doing so assaulted her and made disgusting and intimidatory remarks. You made this as bad and as distressing for the victim and her family as you possibly could.
"It is clear you were behaving completely selfishly and callously."
Mr Tom Bradnock, prosecuting, said Northcott had been in a controlling relationship with the 16-year-old and contacted her on May 5 last year because he wanted to contact her father, who he had a grudge against.
He met her outside a cinema in Sidwell Street, Exeter and assaulted her by dragging her back when she tried to walk away and headbutting her.
Police were called and she was taken home. He was told to leave her alone but followed her and the police were called again. This time they took him home to Heathfield and told him to leave her alone.
He rang her in the early hours and bullied her into taking a taxi to join him by threatening to kill himself and sending a social media message showing him with a knife to his throat.
He stopped her leaving at least five times and rang her father to make threats to her and her family, including a threat to sexually assault her. He told her father ’I’ve got her, dickhead’. She was heard screaming in the background.
Northcott’s sister called the police the next morning and he could be heard on the 999 tape saying ’I’m going to kill her’. She told police she thought she was going to die.
She made a victim statement in which she said:"When he made the threats to my father, I thought he was going to do it. I have never been so scared in my life. I had panic attacks and nightmares for three months."
Mr William Parkhill, defending, said Northcott had a difficult background in and out of care. He was only 18 at the time of the offences and was immature and highly emotional.
He said the risk of further offending would be reduced by working with the probation service in the community.