Prison for Warsop woman who threatened to kill ex-partner 25 years after splitting up
A Warsop woman who threatened to fire bomb her ex-partner's home 25 years after they split up and warned him she knew where he lived in letters sent from her prison cell has been jailed.
Natalie Briggs told police she was going to harm herself before returning home and texting: “I know where you live. I am going to hurt you really badly.”
When he asked, “Who is this? I think you have the wrong number,” Briggs replied: “If you see him, tell him his house is going up in flames.”
Further messages sent in April last year said: “Are you home? If I see you again I will hurt you, I promise. I am waiting for a taxi. You have ten minutes.
“I will kill you, you are dead. I will cut the brakes on your van.”
The next day Briggs, aged 43, told police she breached a three-year restraining order because “she had been feeling bad about other things and this tipped her over the edge,” said Alexander Wolfson, prosecuting, on Wednesday.
“She had been in a relationship with him 20-25 years ago and he doesn't understand why she continues to contact him and make unfounded allegations.”
Briggs was on remand in prison in July when she sent three letters to him via the pub he frequents, saying: “I hope you're already dead. I will get you and stab you in the back. If you make a statement to the police I will get you. You’re dead, you’re dead, you’re dead.
“When I get out of prison I will get you. Just watch every corner you go around.”
In a statement her victim said he wakes up at the slightest noise as a result and has become wary of women, Nottingham Crown Court was told.
Briggs, who has previous convictions for harassment, was arrested in April 2023 and has served the equivalent of 31 months in custody.
Almas Ben Aribia, mitigating, told Nottingham Crown Court psychiatrists assessed her as "impulsive, abusive and attention-seeking," but there was no evidence she would inflict direct physical harm.
Briggs, of River View, Warsop, admitted making threats to kill and harassment at previous hearings.
Jailing her for 46 months and extending the restraining order until 2036, Judge John Sampson warned: “You know the consequence of breaching that order.”