Prison for threatening social workers

Friday 26 July 2019

A man has been sentenced to four months in prison after threatening to kill two social workers.

They visited the defendant's house earlier this year with two police officers to discuss concerns.

The man then became agitated and made multiple threats to kill, such as "I am going to kill them. It's as simple as that".

He went on to tell one of the police officers at the scene that he meant what he had said. The officer advised that the defendant go for a walk to calm down.

He has a number of previous convictions including another conviction for assaulting another social worker.

During mitigation, Advocate Sam Steel said the defendant had felt "it was him on his own against the system", and he could be heard on CCTV saying "you cannot beat the system. The system is corrupt".

Pictured: The man was sentenced in Guernsey's Magistrates Court.

During a police interview following the incident the man said he had never intended to cause harm and said what he did out of "anger". After seeing the CCTV footage he said he was "ashamed" of himself.

"Two social workers went to your home to do no more than their jobs," Judge Graeme Mckerrell said on sentencing. "This was completely unacceptable behaviour. You should have learnt your lesson.

"You were and are considered to be an ongoing threat."

The defendant's four month sentence will run from 19 June, when he was first remanded in custody.

Judge McKerrell asked that the court's admirations be sent to an officer at the scene for the way he dealt with the situation.

Pictured top: Les Nicolles Prison.