A BULLY who terrorised his ex-partner and her family used their children to pass on threats about what would happen if she gave evidence against him.

Blackburn magistrates heard that Colin Michael Hamer, 43, threw a brick through the windscreen of her new partner, and harassed her parents to the extent they were afraid to go out, except in their car, in case they encountered him.

On one occasion he went to their home in a drunken state, threatened to kill Carol Taylor and told her husband, Frank, to come out and he would murder him.

And, in an unrelated incident, he attacked a woman waiting for a taxi in Blackburn town centre, kicking her repeatedly about the legs and stomach.

Hamer, of Rothesay Road, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to criminal damage, witness intimidation, harassing Mr and Mrs Taylor, assaulting Melanie Burke, and breaching a football banning order.

He was jailed for a total of 135 days.

Lisa Worsley, prosecuting, said the damage was to a car belonging to Christopher Alston, who was the new partner of Susan Williams.

She had seen him throw the brick through the windscreen of the car which was parked outside their home and was due to give evidence against him.

"She received a phone call from her son who said she mustn't attend court because his dad had told him to say that if she did he would 'bang' her.

"He also said that if her partner went to court he would break his legs."

Miss Williams's parents referred to a number of incidents involving Hamer, which amounted to harassment, and her father described him as a 'bully'. On New Year's Day he went to their house in a drunken state and began kicking the door.

He made a cut-throat gesture towards Mrs Taylor and said: "I'm going to murder you."

The attack on Miss Burke came after he had been thrown out of the Stage Door pub for causing trouble.Michael Blacklidge, defending, said things had started to go wrong for Hamer four years earlier.

"His wife went out to bingo on Saturday night and won a significant, five-figure sum," said Mr Blacklidge. "When my client returned to the marital home after work on Monday his wife had gone and set up home on her own. He has been in steady decline since then and he tracks these offences back to that event."

He said Hamer realised that with his record, a prison sentence was inevitable.