A man who set fire to his now former partner’s clothes because he suspected she was having an affair has been sentenced by a judge who told him: “Don’t do that again.”
Nathan Shepherd, 28, was punished at Carlisle Crown Court for two offences which a prosecutor said had been committed within hours of each other.
The woman had told police of a four-year relationship which she described as “toxic” with “constant arguments”.
A prosecutor told the court Shepherd had, for some time, been “expressing misgivings that the complainant was engaged in an affair with someone at work”.
And on the night of 22nd March, the woman was woken after Shepherd had unlocked her iPhone and read messages on it. In a rage, he threw her phone at a wall and started smashing it.
Shepherd left the address. But the following day as the woman returned home, she found that he had carried out a threat to burn clothes in a back garden.
She had valued the phone at around £1,000 and the destroyed clothing at £6,500.
Shepherd was brought to court and admitted both arson and criminal damage. He disputed the clothing sum suggested. He had since spent six weeks remanded in custody and several days fitted with a curfew tag.
Shepherd’s barrister said as far as he was concerned the relationship was over, and told a judge the defendant was sorry for what he had done.
Recorder Julian Shaw imposed a two-year community order comprising rehabilitation work with the probation service, completion of a “building better relationships” course and 180 hours’ community service.
Shepherd, of Shore Road, Salterbeck, was also banned from contacting the woman for five years.
Recorder Shaw told Shepherd his offending had come at the end of a relationship “when emotions were frayed and you behaved extremely badly”.
