'Obsessed' Portsmouth ex-boyfriend who would not ‘let go’ of childhood sweetheart, told her: ‘I will kill you and ruin your life.’

Jealous Louie Carley, 21, deployed ruthless tactics that left his ex-lover feeling ‘scared’ as his efforts to win her back became more menacing. Portsmouth Crown Court heard his ‘controlling and manipulating’ behaviour descended to dark threats the woman believed could be carried out.

Carley, of Shearer Road, Fratton, embarked on his campaign to win back his love he had cheated on by repeatedly turning up at the address they had shared after keeping a key despite being removed from the tenancy in December 2020. A subsequent incident on May 7 saw bricklayer Carley turn threatening. ‘He let himself in and refused to hand back the keys and became aggressive accusing her of sleeping with other males,’ prosecutor Martyn Booth said.

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The following day the woman escaped to a friend’s house before returning home to find the wardrobe had suffered £100 of damage. After changing the locks, the victim was then told: ‘You tried to ruin my life. I will kill you and ruin your life.’

Amid fears she was seeing someone else, Carley issued a chilling warning: ‘If you get someone else in the house I will murder them.’

Mr Booth added: ‘She was scared of him when he was aggressive and thought he was capable (of doing what he said). He had been at the house four times in the previous week picking up belongings. It was part and parcel of him trying to maintain a presence in her life she did not want.’

Despite police becoming involved on May 16, Carley remained undeterred and made excuses to turn up at the address. One time he barged in and tried to grab her phone to see who she had been with. Another occasion he left the female ‘shaking with fear for an hour and half’.

Carley was arrested on June 7 but continued his onslaught, saying she was ‘not a fit mum’ before trying to emotionally blackmail her by saying he would kill himself and ‘make her feel sorry for him’. All this was while continuing to deliver merciless taunts, including calling her a ‘skinny little rat’.

Despite being arrested again on August 17, Carley made contact on social media and ‘mocked her’. During an incident the following month he grabbed her arms and shoved her back.

Daniel Reilly, defending, said: ‘(Carley) accepts it was an inappropriate reaction by him.’ He added it was the ‘only relationship he’d ever known’.

Carley, who admitted a charge of putting a person in fear of violence through harassment, was told by judge William Ashworth: ‘The simple fact of relationships is each person has to be free to leave and join. After yours ended you still felt you had power and authority to determine what she did and didn’t do.’

But for a probation recommendation, the judge said he would have locked up Carley, of previous good character, but was willing to give him a ‘chance’. Instead, Carley was given eight months jail suspended for 18 months, 20 rehabilitation days, 100 hours of unpaid work and told to attend a building better relationships programme. He was also given a five-year restraining order.