Colwyn Bay cannabis grower who threatened to 'blow up home' of terrified women avoids jail term

A man who threatened to blow up the home of two women has narrowly avoided being sent to prison.

Shaun Brooks from Colwyn Bay made “serious, intimidating and frightening threats of violence”, while he was on a suspended sentence for growing cannabis.

As well as threatening to blow their house up, Brooks, 31, said he would come to the women’s bedroom at night with baseball bats and smash their heads, leaving his victims terrified, Mold Crown Court heard.

Prosecuting barrister Gareth Roberts said the women, Freya Simmons and Jennifer Plumb, were in a relationship.

Miss Simmons’ was the sister of Brooks’ former partner and she received a phone call from him in December.

He told her: “Don’t put the phone down on me, I want to talk to you.”

She put the phone on speaker and both women heard his threats.

When Miss Plumb asked Brooks why he was saying such things, he mentioned 30 men going to their home.

There were a further four calls of a similar threatening nature, said Mr Roberts.

The victims feared the defendant would carry his threats out.

Arrested, he admitted making the calls and said that he wanted to scare them.

He pleaded guilty to two charges of harassment at magistrates court in March.

Brooks of The Old Highway received an eight month prison sentence suspended for 18 months and was ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work.

Brooks, who turned up in the dock with a case ready for custody, shook when a suspended sentence.

He turned and asked a custody officer if he was going down?

Judge Niclas Parry said that he could see the defendant was in a state of shock.

The harassment of the two women put him in breach of a 14 month suspended sentence for cannabis production handed down in 2015 which is why his case had been sent to the crown court for sentence.

The tone and content of the threats were terrifying and the victims were left in real fear, said Judge Parry.

They were threatened with violence, with the use of weapons, and one suffered stress to such an extent that she lost work because of it.

He said the real mitigation was that he had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity in the magistrates’ court, he had expressed remorse, was working and he had enhanced his CV by gaining qualifications to assist in his employment.

Defending barrister Sarah Yates said that Brooks’ calls were made on the day he returned home from the funeral of an uncle to whom he was close.

If he was sent to prison he would lose his employment and he would have to repay the cost of the courses he was on.

He was full of remorse for what he had done.

As well as the suspended sentence the judge sent Brooks on a thinking skills course and he was ordered to pay £500 compensation to each of his two victims.

Brooks was ordered to pay £250 costs.