A 39-year-old Stowmarket man who ran towards his ex's new partner brandishing a knife after seeing him on a garage forecourt in the town has been jailed for 20 months.
Robert Mayhew got out of his father’s car when he saw the victim at the Esso garage in Stowmarket and shouted abuse at him before returning to the car and pulling a knife, with an eight-inch blade, out of a sheath.
He then ran towards the victim with the knife pointing at him resulting in the victim, who thought he was going to be stabbed, running to the back of his vehicle, and falling over and injuring himself.
Following the incident, the victim was left feeling anxious and was worried about Mayhew approaching him in the future, said Eleanor Sheerin, prosecuting at Ipswich Crown Court.
Mayhew, of Poplar Hill, Stowmarket, admitted threatening the victim with a knife on August 13 this year.
Sentencing him, Recorder Richard Conley said he had “poor self control and a propensity to having outbursts of physical violence”.
He said the incident had taken place in broad daylight at a busy petrel station. “It would have been a frightening and unsettling episode for anyone who witnessed it,” said the judge.
In addition to jailing Mayhew, Recorder Conley banned him from contacting the victim or going near his home for five years.
Charles Myatt, for Mayhew, said his client had mental health issues and was ashamed of the way he had acted.
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