Birstall man told neighbour: ‘I will burn your flat down with you in it’

Jamie Edwin Jackson, of Briarmains Road, Birstall, appeared at Kirklees Magistrates Court on Wednesday when he admitted a charge of threatening to damage or destroy property.

The court heard Jackson became frustrated with the sound of music, singing and vacuuming from an adjacent flat occupied by Leanne Dolan, and shouted the threat through the letter box.

When Jackson, 27, was arrested he claimed he was not in the flat at the time but later admitted the charge.

Safter Salam, mitigating, said Jackson did not know about Ms Dolan’s difficulties and that the pair had lived near each other for a long time without quarrelling.

He said: “Mr Jackson was working all the hours that God gave him at the time and returned to the flat only to sleep.

“He snapped, exacerbated by his tiredness, and in anger may have said something he truly regrets.

“He wanted the court to know he was very sorry for his actions.”

Magistrate Mark Squires said there was a high level of culpability in the case because the threat took place at the victim’s home, which effectively left her trapped.

But he said the incident was brief and the noted the “provocation” from noise coming from the flat.

The case was adjourned until September 24 when Jackson will return to court.