Daughter jailed for threatening mum with razor blades

A Newport woman has been jailed for 14 months after threatening to kill her mother and turning up at her home with razor blades concealed in her bra.

Abigail Thomas, 21, was already subject to a two-year restraining order for assaulting her mum and damaging her car when she sent the chilling threats via Facebook Messenger to her uncle.

Newport Crown Court heard Thomas had just been released from custody for assaulting emergency workers when she contacted her uncle, writing: “Tell mum I’m going to slit her neck. I don’t care about the restraining order. I’ve got razor blades and I’m going to wait for her – even if it takes hours. I will do it – I’ve had enough of her b*******.”

When her uncle told her “not to do anything foolish”, Thomas replied she was “struggling to cope” after being released from Eastwood Park Prison and Young Offender Institution in Gloucestershire.

Her terrified mother went straight to Newport Central police station after being warned about the messages. Rob Simkins, prosecuting, revealed: “She was absolutely petrified. The victim described her daughter as unpredictable and believed she was capable of hurting her.”

Officers found Thomas in her mother’s garden and arrested her. She told them she had razor blades in her pocket and two hidden in her bra.

In a victim impact statement, her mother said: “She was a lovely, polite girl and I have pictures of her on my wall. I wish we still had a lovely mother/daughter relationship. I fear Abigail and that saddens me deeply.”

Thomas pleaded guilty to communication threatening death or serious harm, possession of an offensive weapon in public and breaching a restraining order. She had nine previous convictions for 22 offences, including 18 for violence and assaulting police officers and paramedics.

Martha Smith-Higgins, defending, said her client struggles with serious mental health problems and “has been getting on well in prison and enjoys the routine”.

Judge Celia Hughes told Thomas: “You describe Eastwood Park Prison as your safe place which is sad.” She added that Thomas had been assessed as “posing a high risk of reoffending and there is no realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.

Thomas, of no fixed abode, was also made subject to a new five-year restraining order and must pay a victim surcharge following her release.