Jack Gates: Sadistic Scarborough thug who subjected his partner to 'sickening abuse' and held a knife to her throat is jailed

Jack Gates, 32, flew into a rage after wrongly accusing the victim of having sexual relations with other men, York Crown Court heard.

Gates, a burly figure, turned violent just after midnight on September 11 last year after being invited to the named victim’s home in St John’s Road, Scarborough.

What happened next left the young woman convinced she was about to be killed and blood “sprayed” all over her house, said prosecutor Alex Menary.

“Just after midnight [Gates] became verbally and physically abusive, accusing her of sexual infidelities,” added Mr Menary.

“She tried to leave the property on numerous occasions but he blocked her path and threw her onto the floor repeatedly.”

Gates started smashing up furniture and took hold of the victim by her hair, before “dragging her around the house, shouting [abuse] and swearing at her continuously”.

Gates smashed a mirror, a table and other furniture before grabbing a knife from a kitchen drawer, turning to the victim and telling her: “It’s me or him.”

He used the knife to cut his own arm and started bleeding “profusely”, added Mr Menary.

He said blood was “sprayed” on walls and all over the floor and furniture.

Gates then made the victim hand over her mobile phone before locking the doors and refusing to let her leave.

“He locked her in for about an hour and [put] a knife to her neck and face, causing a cut to the neck and face and one on her arm,” said Mr Menary.

He said Gates was “ranting and raving throughout” the terrifying incident.

He said the petrified victim finally managed to escape through the front door but Gates chased her outside with the eight-inch blade. A female neighbour saw both Gates and the victim covered in blood and told him to leave her alone.

Gates simply dragged the victim back inside the house, before locking the door again.

The victim was “cowering” in the kitchen as Gates aimed a volley of vile abuse at her. He then put the knife to her throat again.

“She thought she would be killed,” said Mr Menary.

The victim finally rang a family member, whereupon Gates left the house, telling her: “You’re lucky.”

She called police who found her in a “hysterical” state at the blood-spattered house.

Mr Menary said it took five people two days to clean the house and wash up all the blood.

The victim suffered a puncture wound to her neck and face and cuts and bruises including to her arm.

Gates, from Cayton Bay, was arrested in the early hours of the same morning and was charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, carrying a knife, criminal damage and false imprisonment.

He ultimately admitted all the offences except false imprisonment, which was dropped by the prosecution because it formed part and parcel of the substantive offence.

Gates appeared for sentence via video link today after being remanded in custody.

In a statement read out in court, the victim said that Gates had “kept me prisoner in my own home” and that his wicked behaviour had “destroyed me”.

She said they had a six-year relationship and were “very close”, but Gates “always had a temper”, smashing windows at her property and “always telling me he was going to kill himself”.

In a previous incident five years ago, he strangled her in the street and dragged her along the ground, rendering her unconscious. He was jailed for eight months for that offence in 2018 after he admitted actual bodily harm.

She said Gates told her that incident was a “one-off” and they stayed together, but “slowly the old Jack started to appear, accusing me of having affairs”.

They lived together until March last year when she discovered he had been using cocaine which “absolutely devastated” her.

They split up and Gates moved out, but they stayed in touch until the day of the terrible incident in September.

“That night I honestly thought I was going to die,” she said.

“He held me hostage in my safe place for over an hour. He smashed up my home. It was an emotional rollercoaster. I was in a state of shock; I was heartbroken.”

She added: “Now I don’t want to leave my house and only leave to go to work.”

About a month after the incident her hair started falling out “in clumps”, leaving bald patches, due to stress which had also brought on eczema.

She had sought help for stress from her doctors and had been told it would take months for her hair to grow back.

Gates, from Cayton Bay, had 18 previous convictions for 38 offences including serious violence and assaulting police officers.

Defence barrister Caroline Abraham said Gates had long-standing mental health issues including drug-induced paranoia and psychosis which had been exacerbated by the death of his mother in 2015, when he relapsed into drugs and was “misusing cocaine on a daily basis”.

Judge Simon Hickey slammed Gates for a “terrifying [attack] on that young woman” which had “changed her life”.

Gates was jailed for six years and told he must serve two-thirds of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.

He was also handed a lifetime restraining order banning him from contacting the victim and going anywhere near her home.

The 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline can be called for free on 0808 2000 247.