A South London man who threatened to firebomb his ex-partner if she refused to drop charges over an arm-squeezing attack has been jailed. Dominic Glen, 33, was accused of assault by beating after crushing and bruising his former lover’s arm in a staircase confrontation at their home in Bromley in December last year, the Old Bailey heard on Thursday (August 14).
Desperate for the woman to drop the charges against him, Glen, of no fixed abode, began a harassment campaign in March this year, repeatedly calling her with no caller ID. On one occasion at her home in Croydon, she found him in her neighbour’s garden and he shouted at her ‘We need to talk’. Glen also falsely accused her of being with other men, the court heard.
Things escalated when Glen threatened to break the woman’s front door, called her a ‘w***e’, and told her he would petrol bomb the house if she did not drop the charges. She also reported him turning up at the house and letting himself in ‘whenever he wanted’.
In a victim impact statement, the woman said this made her feel ‘awful’ and ‘on edge all the time’. “I don’t want to drop the charges. Why should I when he attacked me? That’s not okay,” she said.
Glen made no comment when he was arrested. He was charged in March and appeared at Bromley Magistrates’ Court, then pleaded guilty to assault by beating, harassment fear of violence, and attempt to pervert the course of justice at Croydon Crown Court. Glen has previous convictions for violence, criminal damage, and malicious communications.
Defence counsel Chloe Birch said Glen was dealing with mania, trauma, and substance abuse issues at the time of the incidents. She also argued the harm caused fell short of ‘serious distress’. Since his arrest, Ms Birch said her client had changed, becoming calmer in his personality and abstinent from drugs, while also showing remorse.
Judge Simon Mayo KC told Glen: “You threatened her with violence and sought to intimidate her. The threats you made included to firebomb her house,” adding that the offence was aggravated due to the domestic context and relevant previous convictions.
Judge Mayo said he had no option but to send Glen straight to prison. Glen received 15 months for the assault by beating, 45 weeks for harassment, and no separate penalty for perverting the course of justice.
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