Description
Gary Ridler, of Whickham, left the mum terrified during a campaign of stalking after she ended their brief relationship
Obsessed stalker Gary Ridler threatened to cut up his ex's dog and chop her head off after she dumped him when she found out he was a sex offender.
Ridler had been involved in a brief relationship with the mum, which she ended after finding out he was on the sex offenders register.
That sparked a prolonged campaign of stalking which left the woman living in fear.
He twice gained entry to her home and on one occasion turned up with a machete and told her he had a bottle of petrol.
Newcastle Crown Court heard he tried to get her to retract an earlier statement to police by saying he would petrol bomb the houses of those closest to her while making the vile threats about the dog and saying he would behead the woman.
Now Ridler, 39, of Graham Avenue, Whickham, Gateshead, has been jailed for 28 months after admitting stalking and having the machete.
The court heard they had met while she was working in a pub in 2020 and they embarked on brief relationship.
But when she found out he was a registered sex offender, she ended the relationship as she was concerned for her children.
Ridler took the rejection badly and started causing issues with male customers in the pub and sent her unwanted calls and texts.
She blocked him but he continued to contact her from a withheld number and from a fake social media account.
The manager at the pub barred him and the police banned him from other pubs in the area last summer.
The court heard he responded by saying he would hurt 14 people because she had him barred from 14 pubs.
Matters escalated and in August last year she got a number of texts calling her names and threatening to harm her and her friends and colleagues.
Jessica Slaughter, prosecuting, said: "There was a phone call in which he said he would give her a good hiding and she said she would take a black eye if it meant he would leave her alone.
"He said it would be more than a black eye and threatened to stab her, which she found particularly frightening."
On September 5 she finished work at the pub and saw his dog outside and was concerned he was there.
He texted asking to go for a drink and she refused and left with a friend.
Ridler had been watching her and sent a message asking where she was going.
Several hours later she was having a cigarette outside a pub in Newcastle city centre when she saw him and was concerned he had followed her.
Then, in the early hours of the morning, she was woken by him banging on her window demanding to be let in. He kicked the door and managed to get in.
Miss Slaughter said: "He held his fist to her face as she was curled up on the sofa and smashed her phone.
"Her teenage daughter was woken by the disturbance and came downstairs to see him leaving and her mother hysterical. She described her mother breathing heavily.
"He had threatened to kill her if she told anyone about him being on the sex offenders register."
A few days later, on September 10, the victim was at home when Ridler suddenly appeared in her living room.
He became aggressive, demanded her phone and the friend she had been talking to on it heard her burst into tears.
He searched through her phone, looking for communication with other men then pulled a machete out of his bag.
Miss Slaughter said: "In the bag was also a plastic bottle with liquid, which he said was petrol.
"He knew the police had been contacted about the earlier incident on September 5 and threatened to chop her head off and cut up her dog if she didn't retract her statement.
"He threatened to petrol bomb the houses of her friends and family and said he hated her and would hurt anyone she cared about."
He used the machete to destroy her phone, cutting her sofa in the process.
He then pushed the broken glass side of the phone into her hand then put the phone in his bag.
Ridler also used the machete, in its case, to hit her foot.
Miss Slaughter said: "The incident lasted 30 minutes and she was terrified.
"At times she closed her eyes but he insisted on her looking at him in his eyes."
In order to bring the incident to a close, she said she would retract her statement.
In a victim impact statement, she said: "When I was told he was a registered sex offender I decided to end things because of my children and this led to him turning very frightening and terrifying me for months.
"He became obsessive. He would come to work and watch me and I felt like there was no escape from him.
"I didn't know what to do, I was terrified.
"He caused me to change from being an outgoing person to feeling distressed and on edge and terrified he would harm me and my family.
"He is really unpredictable and even got in my house and my daughters were there the first time."
The victim said she had to leave her place of work and has moved house but still fears what will happen when he is released from prison."
Ridler pleaded guilty to stalking involving fear of violence between July 1 and September 13 last year and having a bladed article and was jailed for 28 months. He was also made subject to an indefinite restraining order.
The court heard he has 12 previous convictions, including three counts of sexual assault, for which he was jailed for 43 months in 2016. He also has previous for carrying weapons.
Shaun Routledge, defending, said Ridler "couldn't take the rejection" despite the woman initially saying they could remain friends.
He added that the machete had remained in its sheath and said "his problems appears to be alcohol".