A MAN threatened to commit suicide in front of his ex-girlfriend after they split up by taking an overdose or stabbing himself.

Daniel Brooks then bit Leanne Phillips on the cheek during a struggle at her parents’ home.

He left the house when her brother and sister arrived but was arrested by police at Colwall railway station, near Malvern, after taking 30 epilepsy tablets, Worcester Crown Court was told.

He was rushed to hospital but after being released made threats to harm Miss Phillips’ new boyfriend if she would not retract evidence of the attack on her, said Charles Hardy, prosecuting.

Brooks, aged 21, of Oak Crescent, Malvern, admitted battery and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Sending him to prison for three months, Judge Alistair McCreath said intimidation of witnesses was a constant problem faced by the courts.

He accepted that Brooks was in a state of emotional turmoil at the time of the offences.

The couple – who had a son together – had a difficult relationship and Miss Phillips left to live at her parents’ house in Colwall.

On November 11 last year Brooks, fuelled by alcohol, went around when the parents were away and asked her whether he should kill himself with pills or the kitchen knife he was holding.

He followed her into a bedroom as she tried to ring for help, flung her on to a bed and bit her, said Mr Hardy. As she was comforting their son, he grabbed her arms and screamed at her. He later made threats by text, claiming that her new boyfriend would end up in a wheelchair.

Defence counsel Samantha Crabb said Brooks turned to alcohol abuse at 17 after his father died. It escalated to a litre of vodka a day. He got involved with the wrong crowd, turning to crime. His record included assault on police and public disorder.

Miss Crabb said he invested a lot of emotion in his relationship. But three days before the assault Miss Phillips revealed she was in a romance with a close friend of his.

She said: “He made the foolhardy decision to pay her a visit. It was a desperate cry for help to take him back.”

Miss Crabb said Brooks had no intention of carrying out his threatened attack on Miss Phillips’ new boyfriend.