Wisbech man jailed after threatening to slit throat of ex-girlfriend he claimed to love in vile harassment campaign

Riki McGrath, (29), began the campaign of harassment shortly after the five-and-a-half month relationship had ended in March this year.

But his brave victim went to police to put an end to the ordeal - and now he has been jailed for 31 months following a hearing at Cambridge Crown Court.

The court was told that on March 15 McGrath called the woman 39 times in the space of just two hours. Then, five days later, he called her and threatened to slit her and her friend’s throats.

On March 27 he left two voice messages threatening to run his ex over as she walked to college, and then on March 31 he sent three text messages threatening her family. On April 2 he sent a text message promising the victim would not be able to go to the football game she had tickets for, as he would make sure she was in hospital instead. A further four texts were sent to the victim on 3 April, as well as nine phone calls.

In addition, McGrath used a dating website to contact another of his ex-partners in March, despite having a restraining order not to contact her.

Remarkably, despite making the vile threats against the woman, in police interview he told officers he believed he and his victim were still in love.

Along with the jail sentence, McGrath, of North Street, Wisbech, was given a 10 year restraining order, banning him from contacting his victim after pleading guilty to making threats to kill, stalking and three counts of harassment.

DC Lee Lombardo said: “McGrath set out to terrorise and intimidate the victim, refusing to leave her alone despite her obvious desire to move on. “As a force we take the kind of threats he made very seriously and this is reflected in his sentence.”