A MAN from Anglesey who refused to let his partner leave his home when she tried to end their relationship has been jailed.

Robert Holmes, 40, of Maes Y Brenin, was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment at Caernarfon Crown Court today (August 22).

He was found guilty after trial, on July 17, of a charge of common assault.

Holmes also admitted breaching a suspended sentence order previously imposed to him by not attending an unpaid work appointment.

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Prosecuting, Catherine Elvin told the court that Holmes had been in a relationship with Ashleigh Crabtree, which had been deteriorating in the months preceding the incident in question.

Holmes had been struggling significantly with his own mental health, and the couple had been arguing frequently.

Ultimately, Ms Crabtree decided to end their relationship in May.

On May 30, Holmes sent Ms Crabtree a message asking her to “come over to talk”; she agreed, but still had the intention of ending their relationship.

When she arrived at Holmes’ home, he was “instantly argumentative”, so she tried to leave his property through a side door.

But Holmes pushed the door closed and pressed his body weight against it to prevent her from opening it, before shouting: “F*** off; you’re not leaving” at her.

She tried to leave “four or five more times” but was again prevented from doing so by Holmes.

Ms Crabtree then attempted to lock herself in Holmes’ bathroom, but he followed her and pushed back the bathroom door to stop her from entering.

When she then back to the front door, Holmes again blocked her exit by holding the door shut, his “fist clenched” as he stood in front of her.

He then began screaming in her face after she had “squeezed past him”.

The entire incident lasted roughly five months, leaving Ms Crabtree “completely terrified” and fearing that he would assault her.

In a statement, she added that she was “shaking” and “crying” during the incident, but that Holmes “didn’t seem to care”.

When interviewed, Holmes accepted that they argued but denied using his body weight to close a door.

He also said that he did not believe that Ms Crabtree would have been scared of him.

Prosecuting in respect of Holmes’ breach of his suspended sentence, Paulinus Barnes said he was sent a “warning letter” on May 16, having not attended an appointment two days prior.

Yet Holmes then didn’t attend another appointment on May 28, Mr Barnes added.

Holmes had been sentenced to 22 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, in January 2022, after being convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

As part of the suspended sentence order, he was also handed 30 days’ rehabilitation activity requirements and 200 hours’ unpaid work.

But Mr Barnes said that, more than a year-and-a-half since its imposition, Holmes still has 199 hours’ unpaid work and 23 days’ rehabilitation activity requirements outstanding.

Holmes had expressed a reluctance to attend unpaid work appointments due to his anxiety, he said.

Defending Holmes, who had 27 previous convictions for 66 offences, Dafydd Roberts said that his mental health is in a “very poor state”.

In May, the same month as the incident with Ms Crabtree and as when he missed his appointments, he was an inpatient at the Hergest mental health unit at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor.

But Holmes had also attended 37 of 41 office-based appointments so far, Mr Roberts said, deeming him still capable of rehabilitation.

He has been remanded in custody, with Mr Roberts saying he is “not in a good place” there, having not received the support for his mental health that he would like.

Sentencing, Judge Niclas Parry issued a consecutive sentence of three months for the common assault, followed by nine for breaching the suspended sentence.

A restraining order, preventing Holmes from contacting Ms Crabtree or entering her home for five years, was also imposed, as was a statutory surcharge.

Judge Parry told him: “There are only so many chances a person can be given.

“Would anybody consider it unjust if activated the suspended sentence? Clearly, nobody would.”