A ‘dominating’ man threatened to slit his girlfriend’s throat with two ‘lethal’ kitchen knives during an attack that followed years of abusive behaviour.

Nathan Haigh, 25, became so controlling that his girlfriend would have to ask his permission to visit her own family.

One one occasion Haigh locked her in their home and told her that a colleague was going to come over and rape her.

She was so petrified that she called her parents and threw blankets and a mattress onto the ground below in order to escape via a window.

Things eventually came to a head in November 2019, when a drunken Haigh grabbed two large kitchen knives, pressed his face to his girlfriend’s and said he would ‘slit her throat’.

The terrified woman called 999 and later revealed the extent of the relationship to police officers.

Haigh, of Dunkirk Rise, Rochdale, has now been jailed after pleading guilty to engaging in controlling or coercive behaviour.

Jailing him for 22 months, Recorder Ian Harris said: “Your behaviour during this period was mean and despicable.”

He added: “You got two absolutely lethal kitchen knives, you showed them to her, put your face to hers and said you would slit her throat and she was terrified.

“You also said you were going to have the property burnt down by youths with petrol.

“You said you had ‘fourteen 17-year-olds kick f*** out of this place’.

Prosecutor David Bentley outlined the details of the case at Minshull Street Crown Court on Tuesday (March 30).

He said police were called to an address in Littleborough, in November 9, 2019.

When they arrived Haigh’s then girlfriend threw the house keys to officers so they could enter but they found the door locked from the inside and she had to let them in herself.

Haigh was sitting near the entrance and appeared intoxicated, was frothing at the mouth and slurring his words, Mr Bentley said.

The ‘extremely distressed’ victim told officers Haigh had made threats to her and threatened to burn the property down. He had taken knives from a drawer and threatened her, she claimed.

The couple had been together for three and a half years and during that time Haigh had prevented her from leaving their home, seeing friends and family and monitored her text messages, Mr Bentley said.

Haigh was arrested and at that point said: “I have got fourteen 17-year-olds to kick f*** out of this place”, the court heard.

In a police statement the victim said the couple had been shopping that day and argued.

Haigh drank a bottle of vodka and told his girlfriend if she didn’t ‘sort her attitude’ he would have another drink.

She told him to leave but he didn’t, at one point swinging the bottle towards her.

They continued to argue and Haigh took two large kitchen knives and said he would kill her by “slitting her throat”, Mr Bentley said.

“She believed he would do that because he had never shown that level of aggression to her before,” he added.

The ‘petrified’ victim called 999, at which point Haigh said he would be back to burn the flat down with her in it.

In the wake of the incident the victim told officers: “I never want to see Nathan again” and asked for a restraining order.

The court heard that she had moved in with Haigh and his bedridden mother in January 2017 and shortly afterwards the defendant “spiralled into excessive alcohol consumption”.

“He would be aggressive towards her if she did anything wrong in his eyes,” Mr Bentley said.

The barrister said Haigh would tell the victim she was ‘useless’ and there was ‘no point’ in having a girlfriend.

He locked her in the house, would make her apologise for things she had not even done, didn’t allow her to go out on her own and she required permission to see friends and family.

In April that year, Haigh sent her a message claiming that a colleague of his intended to rape and kill her.

Terrified, she rang parents to collect her and threw bedding from the window so she could escape.

The couple later set up together in a bedsit but were kicked out due to Haigh’s behaviour.

Mr Bentley said of the victim: “She adopted a default position for apologising for everything. “She felt it was safer.”

Adam Roxborough, defending, conceded that Haigh’s behaviour was “appalling and extremely unpleasant”.

He said the defendant had been unable to think at the time of the incident due to his alcohol intake.

The barrister said Haigh is ‘considerably troubled’ and added that his childhood and adolescence had been entirely ‘lost to him’ because of his mother’s own difficulties.

Haigh has a ‘psychotic illness’ treatable with medication, Mr Roxborough said, adding that his client is ‘a very different person’ today.

The barrister highlighted an unexplained ten-month delay between Haigh’s arrest in 2019 and his charge in 2020. During this time, Haigh had been hospitalised for a period for mental health problems.

Mr Roxborough asked for a suspended sentence for his client – who has 23 previous convictions.

But Mr Recorder Harris said Haigh’s behaviour was so serious that there was ‘no alternative’ to custody.

Jailing him for 22 months, with a 12 month supervision order, he highlighted the ‘multiple methods’ of controlling and coercive behaviour Haigh had used during his relationship.

“You drank to excess, were volatile and abusive,” he said.

“Often you would pass out in the house. You would insist on screening her telephone calls. She was not able to see her family.

“She was frightened of you and most of the time you were a controlling, dominating individual.

“She apologised all the time even when she had done nothing wrong.

“This was clearly a coercive and controlling relationship.”