Burnley man 'imprisoned' his grandma and held knife to her neck

Dominic Harwood, 34, was living with Patricia Everitt, 84, at the time of the incident on March 28 and had been there since September last year.

Preston Crown Court heard how on that date he was persistently arguing with his grandmother, and talking about “strange things”.

These included him talking about how much he hated the Pope, about “how wonderful Donald Trump is,” and criticising her for her lack of interest in politics, prosecutor Lisa Worsley said.

Dominic Harwood (Image: Lancashire Police)

Ms Everitt went out and when she came home found Harwood had scratched a cross into his chest, which led to him telling her she was stupid and that she did not care about the wound.

Later on in the evening, Harwood produced a knife which he used to cut his arm. Ms Everitt, having been a nurse for more than 40 years, tried to tape the wound but Harwood was “unsatisfied with her efforts,” according to Ms Worsley.

Harwood then began to demand money from Ms Everitt, which she denied as she said she had already given him £60 that day. He demanded another £20.

As Ms Everitt was looking for her bank card, Harwood locked the front and back doors and cut the phone wires with the knife.

When Ms Everitt was upstairs looking for the card, Harwood pushed her onto the bed and leant over her, holding the knife to her neck and said “would you lose your life over £20?”

Harwood’s sister-in-law arrived at the house with her husband and spoke to Ms Everitt, who said Harwood had “gone mad.”

Harwood said it was an “accident” and that Ms Everitt had “got in my way.”

As they were sat in the kitchen, Harwood wiped his hand across the wound on his arm and then wiped it across Ms Everitt’s face.

He then told Ms Everitt: “If you call the police I’ll kill a member of the family.”

Officers did attend and Harwood was tasered. He was arrested and made no comment in his interview.

Two knives were recovered from the property.

Harwood, of no fixed abode in Burnley, had no previous convictions.

Preston Crown Court Sessions House (Image: Archive)

Eleanor Watson, mitigating, said Harwood was “liable to outbursts of emotion” and was a “very unwell man at the time of the incident.”

Judge Andrew Jeffries, sentencing, said: “In March this year after you had been self-harming, in an agitated state you imprisoned your grandmother while using and holding a knife.

“You cut the phone lines and locked the doors. At one stage you held that knife against her throat which caused the, thankfully superficial, injury to her neck, but it must have been a terrifying incident for her.”

Judge Jeffries sentenced Harwood to 18 months in prison. A restraining order was also imposed prohibiting him from attending any address he knows or believes his grandmother to live at.