A plumber threatened to turn his ex-wife's new partner into a human torch by pouring petrol down his throat and setting fire to him.

Exeter Crown Court heard Paul Macleod waged an unrelenting and sinister war of terror on the couple, making them live in fear and misery.

The court was told that Joanne Macleod had already fled Yorkshire with her two children to get away from her husband.

But he tracked her down to Devon and tried to effect a reconciliation.

Prosecutor Gareth Evans said that when that failed, he started his hate campaign against her and the new man in her life, Nicholas Honeywell.

In one terror threat to Mr Honeywell's mobile telephone, Macleod said: 'I will pour petrol down your throat, throw a match down there and watch you go bang.'

Macleod also twice challenged Mr Honeywell to a one-to-one punch up in a Chudleigh car park.

When his proposed victim failed to turn up, Macleod sent a further message to his mobile saying: 'I don't know why you escaped me tonight.

'I will wipe your windpipe out. I am going to bust every bone in your body and the more you ignore me the more you annoy me.'

Mr Evans said in relation to his ex-wife, Macleod dragged her into his car and punched her when she complained about his driving.

He also attacked her in her kitchen forcing her to flee to her sister's house and eventually to Devon.

Mr Evans said Joanne was so terrified at what Macleod had done to her that it had taken 'every last bit of courage to make the complaint'.

She said she suffered nightmares and woke up crying and she had been left emotionally scarred by her horrific experiences.

In a victim impact statement she said she had tried to block out what he had done to her for the sake of the children, but she feared that Macleod was sitting in prison plotting his revenge against her.

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Mr Evans told the court that Macleod had a long criminal history which included threats, affray, criminal damage and possessing an offensive weapon.

Mitigating Gavin Collett said that Macleod was a devoted father who had „completely and utterly lost control of himself.‰

Mr Collett claimed that Mr Honeywell had visited the pub used by the defendant and asked the landlord to ban Macleod but he had refused.

That led to Mr Honeywell threatening to burn down the building and receiving a caution for that.

„I am not belittling the terrible things Macleod said to Mr Honey well but equally they should not be seen in isolation,‰ submitted Mr Collett.

37 year old Macleod of The Old Well House, Fore Street, Chudleigh admitted assaulting his ex-wife and harassing her. In addition he pleaded guilty to making threats to kill Mr Honeywell and putting him in fear of violence by harassing him.

Jailing him for 18 months Judge Barry Cotter said Macleod had embarked on a sustained campaign against Mr Honeywell.

As far as his former wife was concerned the judge told Macleod: „Domestic violence cannot be tolerated by the courts and this was a violent and sustained attack on a vulnerable mother with two children.‰

In addition to the prison sentence Macleod was made the subject of a restraining order banning him from contacting  Joanne and Mr Honeywell for life.