Ex threatened to shoot Worksop woman in the head

Connor Sykes messaged the woman on Facebook to say he would “slap her silly” and threatened to smash car and house windows, in the early hours of October 19.

Prosecutor Simon Rowe said the woman called him back on Sunday, October 21, when Sykes told her: “I am going to come to yours shooting off.

“You know what I have got. I have got a gun. I am coming to yours. I am going to point it at your head. I will put you ten feet under.”

The incident left the woman “feeling scared.”

Rebecca Williams, mitigating, said Sykes, who has no previous convictions, had a learning disability, schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

She described their relationship, which ended 12 months earlier as “volatile” and said “they would message in this vein - threatening each other and becoming increasingly abusive.”

“He didn’t feel it would cause her any fear,” Ms Williams said. “She didn’t call the police. She called him. If she were fearful she wouldn’t have made the attempt to call him.

“He has never behaved in this nature before.”

Probation officer Sarah Todd said Sykes was immature for his age and his “disabilities impact on some social situations.”

Sykes, 21, of Smelter Wood Road, Sheffield, admitted sending menacing messages, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Wednesday.

He received a 12 month community order, with 15 rehabilitation days to address thinking skills, anger management and healthy relationships.

He was fined £100, and he was ordered to pay costs of £85 and an £85 government surcharge.

A two-year restraining order was imposed, and he was banned from going to Lincoln View, in Worksop.

A BB gun in Sykes’ flat was seized by police and the bench ordered it to be destroyed.