AN AGGRESSIVE drug dealer who held his former partner captive at knifepoint has been jailed.
Fletcher Allinson, 26, of Pembrey Road, Rugby, had pleaded guilty to charges of possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply them.
And at a later hearing at Warwick Crown Court he pleaded guilty to offences of false imprisonment, possessing a bladed article, and assault.
He was jailed for two years and four months by Judge Peter Cooke for the drug offences, with a consecutive two-year sentence for the later incident.
Prosecutor Edward Hollingsworth said that in May last year, while still under investigation for the drug offences, Allinson turned up at his former partner’s home just before 5am, asking to sleep on the sofa.
He picked up her phone, saying he wanted to know who she had been talking to, which she said was none of his business.
Allinson became aggressive, telling her: “I own you. I have people watching you all the time.”
He took a bread knife from the kitchen, grabbed her and pushed her onto her bed.
She got away but he followed, and picked up a bottle of wine which he began tapping against her head in a menacing way.
He put his hand round her throat and told her his last girlfriend had had to leave Rugby.
He then armed himself with a carving knife, and as she tried to get out of the house he grabbed her and put a knife to her neck, telling her: “You’re not leaving.”
He began taking cocaine before ordering her to take him somewhere in her car.
Sitting next to her in the car, still with the carving knife which he threatened to poke into her leg if she did not take him where he wanted to go, he then realised she was driving to the police station.
When she pulled up he threatened to stab any officers who came to the car, but she managed to get out and ran to the locked door where she pressed the buzzer.
She also made a 999 call, but as she was speaking to the operator, Allinson took the phone from her and claimed everything was fine.
The operator did not believe that, and an officer was dispatched to speak to her – and, following an ordeal lasting nearly four hours, she was found to have bruising to her neck and arms.
Allinson had made off, but returned to the police station after disposing of the knife, and was arrested.
Mr Hollingsworth had told the court that in August 2018, police officers on patrol in Rugby found Allinson with another man in a car parked on a track leading to garages at the back of Coton Road.
They recognised the driver as a known drug-user, and when they went to speak to both men they noticed a small bag in the car containing 26 wraps of heroin.
And in Allinson’s shoulder bag the officers found £98 in cash and another bag containing 17 deals of crack cocaine, while in the passenger footwell where he had been sitting was a set of electronic scales and a further £40.
Allinson had dropped a phone, on which were messages to do with the supply of drugs, including a group text advertising drugs for sale which had been sent to 40 people.
Allinson entered his pleas to the drug offences on the basis that he was dealing to pay off a drug debt of his own.
But Mr Hollingsworth made the point that the texts showed he was ‘more than just a runner’ for someone else.
Handing the judge a letter from Allinson, his barrister Adam Western said: “The contrition he says he feels is genuine.”
Sentencing Allinson, in relation to the drug offences, Judge Cooke told him: “You were released under investigation when you committed the offences against your former partner.
“She has written a letter saying there is good in you, and she wants you to be someone she is on good terms with, although there is no suggestion you will be a couple again.
“You are genuinely remorseful, and have been using your time in custody exemplarily to address your drug problem.”
