‘Dangerous’ Ranby prisoner threatened to firebomb woman’s car

A ‘dangerous’ Ranby prisoner who threatened to firebomb a social worker's car left his victim living in fear, a court has heard.
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Glynn Johnson had been recalled to prison after serving a sentence for robbery when he received bad news from the social services and became angry, on September 29, last year.

"He was visibly upset and became verbally aggressive," prosecutor Lucky Thandi told Nottingham Crown Court, on Wednesday, March 17.

"When I get out I am going to firebomb her car," Johnson told a different member of the prison staff.

Nottingham Crown Court.Nottingham Crown Court.
Nottingham Crown Court.
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The social worker was signed off work after the threats, made at HMP Nottingham. The court heard she was left “struggling to cope and no longer felt safe driving in her car,”

Ms Thandi said the offence was aggravated by Johnson’s 23 previous convictions for 76 offences.

Katrina Wilson, mitigating, said it was an "indirect threat" and Johnson had written a letter of apology to the woman.

She said he was the victim of an attempted shooting, in September 2019, and blinded in one eye after a stabbing. The sight in his other eye is impacted and “he wakes every day fearing he might not be able to see.”

Miss Wilson said Johnson was placed into care at a young age, which “led to a downward spiral in terms of his mental health, substance abuse and a cycle of offending.”

Johnson, aged 33, formerly of HMP Ranby, pleaded guilty to threatening to destroy property.

Recorder Jason Macadam described him as “dangerous” and adjourned sentencing for a psychiatric report.

On May 5, he told Johnson: “The threat you made when you committed this offence was one of the most serious violence imaginable.

"You said this knowing exactly what you were saying. Offending against public servants will not be tolerated.”

But he said Johnson’s mental and physical health problems could not be ignored and he noted the “difficult and tragic circumstances” of his upbringing.

"The loss of sight reduced the level of threat you pose to others,” he said.

Johnson received two years, suspended for 24 months, with a mental health treatment requirement, 25 rehabilitation days, and a six-month curfew.

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