A WOMAN who was held prisoner at knifepoint by her former partner raised the alarm after he made her go to a cash machine to get money for him.
David Bevan demanded his ex partner pay him what she had got for a pet bird she had sold, but he was arrested shortly afterwards.
At Warwick Crown Court Bevan, 35, of Warwick Terrace, Leamington, was jailed for two years and three months after pleading guilty to charges of false imprisonment and making threats with a blade.
Prosecutor Ian Windridge said Bevan and his former girlfriend had been in a relationship for more than two years, and had been living together at her home for some of that time.
But there had been disagreements about Bevan’s drinking, and things came to a head when she got home on August 14 to find he had been drinking again.
They argued, and she ended the relationship and drove him back to his home.
It was agreed she would take some of his belongings round a week later but when she arrived he was drunk and erratic.
Bevan was ‘so drunk he was swaying,’ and they argued over pets, including a bird which he wanted but which she explained she had sold for £250, and a tortoise.
He got angry about the sale of the bird and in the entrance to the block of flats he produced a lock knife, at which point his former partner became scared and tried to edge away from him towards her car.
He ordered her to unlock the car and threatened if she did not open the doors he would ‘pop the tyres’ with the knife.
She unlocked the car, he got in the passenger side and ordered her to get in and drive to her home in Hatton so he could check whether she still had the bird.
Bevan threw the knife onto the dashboard as his partner drove out to Hatton where Bevan, who had been causing damage to the car seat, told her he wanted the money from the sale of the bird.
She told him she did not have it, but that there was a cashpoint at the petrol station in Hatton, and she pulled onto the forecourt and went over to the machine.
Mr Windridge said: “There was also a request for cigarettes, and she was able to speak to the cashier and ask for the police to be called, and the police arrived while the car was still near to the petrol station.”
The court heard his ex girlfriend said there had been previous incidents, but she had never wanted to call the police, but that night she felt she had no choice and was ‘desperate for someone to come and save me.’
Jailing Bevan, Judge Anthony Potter told him: “This all adds up to a very frightening incident.
“It is plain your primary problem is that you drink too much. You are someone who tends to be something of a loner. But I bear in mind this is the first time you will receive a custodial sentence.”
