A MAN who threatened to kill a South Cumbria dog walker who was expressing concern for a car passenger has been given a prison sentence.
Paul Anthony Mitchell, 57, was heard shouting and swearing at a female inside a Ford Mondeo close to Devil’s Bridge in Kirkby Lonsdale at around 10-30pm on August 30 last year.
Mitchell was topless, yelled “what are you looking at” towards dog walker Iain Black and then stated “I am going to kill you” as Mr Black strolled past with the pet.
Carlisle Crown Court heard Mr Black was not unduly troubled, but was worried about the woman, who wasn’t engaging and seemed “troubled and shocked” by what was going on.
Mitchell was then seen driving a short distance, erratically, the wrong way down a one-way street despite being banned from the road in 2018. When arrested by police, he initially gave a false name and then urinated in a patrol vehicle.
He admitted driving while disqualified, having no insurance, damaging property, threatening behaviour and obstructing a PC. The court heard Mitchell, of New Road, Halifax, had served the equivalent of an eight-month jail term while on remand.
Recorder Eric Lamb, who described Mr Black as “stoical”, gave Mitchell a two-month jail term this afternoon (WED), meaning he was due to be released from custody imminently.
Recorder Lamb told Mitchell, who was also given a three-month driving ban: “This was a violent and aggressive loss of control on your part.”