Sunderland thug given restraining order after he threatened to stab his ex when they split up before Christmas

A court heard Lewis Trueman, 20, of Goldsmith Road, Grindon, Sunderland, picked up a blade at the woman’s home and said: “I’m going to stab you, I’m actually going to stab you.” After backtracking and putting it down, he smashed an internal door when she was not present – and carried out similar damage at the same council property four months later, a court heard. He has now been handed a two-year restraining order after pleading guilty to two charges of criminal damage and to failing to attend court on Tuesday, April 21 after being granted bail. At South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court, District Judge Kathryn Meek questioned why Trueman had not been charged with a more serious offence, related to the knife allegation. Sentencing him, she said: “This was poor, poor behaviour. It was terrifying behaviour for her.” Prosecutor John Garside told the court: “They have been in a relationship which has ended in December. She’s blocked him on her mobile phone. “Later that day, he’s gone there and started to shout about this. “He then goes into the kitchen and takes a knife and tells her, ‘I’m going to stab you, I’m actually going to stab you’. “He puts the knife back into the drawer and makes threats to smash the door. She leaves with her support worker. “She then sees damage to an internal door which she says was not damaged prior to him damaging it.” Mr Garside told the court Trueman was then granted bail on condition he did not contact her or enter any street where he believed her to be. But he added: “At approximately midnight on April 17, the defendant has come to her home address shouting. She hasn’t answered the door. “He left but returned at about 2am. She’s upstairs and heard banging and then heard the defendant calling her names. She then heard a window smash.” The court was told Trueman, who has no previous convictions, was suffering emotionally following his mother’s death. Tom Morgan, defending, said: “He denies making any threats with a knife and would stand by this account. “He’s full of a lot of mixed emotions. He’s struggled to deal with his mother’s passing. “He accepts that he’s the person at fault in this situation, completely.” The restraining order prevents Trueman from contacting her, except for a specific reason mentioned in court. He must also not enter a named street or any building where he knows she resides. Trueman was also given an 18-month community order with a requirement to undertake 30 sessions of the Building Better Relationships programme and 25 days of rehabilitation work with the Probation Service. He was also made subject to an electronically monitored 7pm to 7am curfew for 12 weeks and must pay £120 compensation and £85 court costs. A message from the Editor: Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you. In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper. Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis. With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper. Thank you How to subscribe to the print edition It’s easy to subscribe to your local newspaper. We have arranged a special 20 per cent off subscription offer for people to take advantage of. Visit www.localsubsplus.co.uk, choose the newspaper title, the type of subscription and enter your details.