Thug tasered by police after barricading himself in bedroom and trying to jump out of upstairs window
A thug had to be tasered by police after barricading himself in his bedroom and trying to jump out of an upstairs window, a judge was told.
Callum Astley threatened to kill his girlfriend’s former partner and threw a can at one of the officers sent to arrest him, it was claimed at Preston Crown Court.
The 33-year-old admitted four offences including police assault and was sent to prison for a total of 12 months when he appeared before Recorder Geoffrey Lowe for sentence.
Astley, who had a string of offences of violence on his record, confronted the man outside a school when he was picking up the couple’s children. He blocked in his car and shouted: “I’m going to punch your head in, I’m going to smash your face in, I’m going to kill you.”
The court heard that at the time the woman had been trying to end her relationship with Astley due to his ongoing behaviour issues.
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But he contacted her by phone, text messages and on Facebook and TikTok. In them he made threats to set fire to her property and her ex-partner's home and also made abusive comments about her on social media.
When police officers visited Astley’s house he immediately shouted at them to leave. He went upstairs and barricaded himself in the bedroom and at one point tried to jump out of the first floor window.
The officers forced their way into the bedroom, but Astley threw a can at them, hitting one on the arm. He had to be tasered before he could be handcuffed and arrested.
The court heard his criminal record contained 42 previous offences, including assault, disorderly behaviour, arson and criminal damage. He had been given a four-year prison sentence for assault in 2021 and he was also in breach of a four-month suspended prison sentence imposed last October for threatening to kill his probation officer.
Defence barrister Daniel Bramall said his client was a man who was “struggling to move on”. “He recognises he behaved unacceptably.”
He said Astley had told the woman he wanted to change (his behaviour). “I want you in my life,” he said. The threats of causing death or serious harm had not been aimed at her, they were directed at her former partner. And he had no intention of carrying them out.
He added that Astley had admitted his life was “a mess” and he hadn’t meant anything by what he had said. In fact he was disgusted by what he had done.
He had abstained from alcohol and drugs for 18 months prior to these offences but had lapsed and had taken a cocktail of drugs at the time he made the threats resulting in him losing control.
A report from a psychiatrist said Astley’s mental health issues had impacted on his behaviour at the time of the offences.
The court was told the woman had declined to make a victim impact statement to the court because she said she was frightened. Yet she was in the public gallery with his parents to support him at the sentencing hearing.
“She recognises he has significant mental health issues which she says she would like him to get some help for,” said Mr Bramall.
Passing sentence Recorder Lowe said Astley, of Ellesmere Road, Morecambe, had sent the woman 230 messages on various platforms at the time of the split.
He said of the four charges he faced, sending a communication threatening death or serious harm was the most serious. He was also in breach of a suspended sentence for threatening to kill his probation officer last October.
He sentenced Astley to six months for making threats to kill, four months concurrent for making threats to destroy property (by fire), two months also concurrent for using threatening words and behaviour and two months consecutive for police assault.
He also invoked the four-month suspended sentence to run consecutive, making a total of 12 months in prison.
In addition he made Astley the subject of a restraining order banning him from making any contact with the woman’s previous partner for the next five years.