Bassetlaw dad armed himself with baseball bat when daughter got death threat

Police were tipped off and stopped Stephen Baines on Waverley Way, Retford, where they found a large black bat on the back seat of his car, on October 22, said prosecutor Daniel Pietryka.

Mansfield magistrates were told Baines' daughter split up with her ex-boyfriend in June, and he began sending her abusive messages and terrorising her.

Baines told officers he’d politely told him to leave his daughter alone but he bought the bat after receiving a text message which threatened that his windows would be broken.

He was actively looking for the male, sighted him, and got out of his car, just before the officers intervened, said Mr Pietryka.

Arjun Madahar, mitigating, said Baine deserved full credit for pleading guilty at the first opportunity.

He said on the day he bought the bat his daughter had received a text saying 'today he is dead'.

"The ex-boyfriend is subject to some kind of bail condition forbidding him from attending their home and there is an ongoing police investigation," Mr Madahar said.

"Mr Baines genuinely feared for the safety of his daughter and that essentially clouded his judgment. It was a moment of madness.”

He said Baines, a scaffolder, was being 'a protective father, and he had 'no intention of hurting this gentleman - he just wanted to warn him off.'

"He has been very frank and knows his actions were wrong," said Mr Madahar. “He is a single father to his daughter and is not someone who goes out looking for trouble. Nothing happened as a result of him having the weapon.”

Baines, aged 47, of George Street, Retford, admitted possessing an offensive weapon when he appeared in Mansfield Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

The presiding magistrate told him: "Don't put yourself or your family at risk by doing something else like this. If you have got a problem that is what the police are for."

He was fined £916 and ordered to pay a £366 surcharge and £85 court costs.