Hartlepool man threatened to kill ex-girlfriend and bite new man's nose off in menacing phone calls from jail

Daniel Auton, 24, warned he would kill the woman and a new man she was seeing while he was locked up.

He also threatened to bite off the man’s nose and blow up the woman’s vehicle in a series of menacing phone calls, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The sinister calls started after Auton was jailed in September last year following a short relationship with the woman, which she believed was over.

They went on for about six weeks, said prosecutor Jonathan Walker.

He said: "It was a short but concerted campaign of abusive communication with a former partner.

“The complainant describes feeling utterly petrified.”

Auton, who the judge said has a worrying record for similar behaviour, also threatened to go round to the woman’s house upon his imminent release.

But after reporting the menacing messages, he was arrested at the prison gates.

Describing the impact on her she said: “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

Auton, of Coleridge Avenue, Hartlepool, was found guilty of harassment between November last year and January.

Stephen Constantine, mitigating, said Auton’s temper got the better of him due to concerns about accessing his bank account while inside.

He said: “He tells me much of what he is attributed as saying were empty threats without any intention of carrying them out.”

In November 2021, Auton was jailed for eight months after smashing his way into a house where another ex-partner, her mother and sister were.

He was jailed for 14 months for the latest harassment.