A divorced husband has been jailed for trashing his ex wife's home and trying to blow it up after he learned she was going to re-marry.
Mark Bridgeman used a large hunting knife to slash furniture and switched on all the gas hobs to fill the former marital home with gas after barging his way in past his terrified ex wife Rebecca.
She had been warned he was on his way to her home by the head teacher of a local primary school who had seen the knife after Bridgeman arrived during lessons and demanded to see a pupil.
He told head David Barnett:"I am going to see her and I've got this" before moving a newspaper to reveal the green handled knife on the passenger seat.
Bridgeman caused almost £6,000 damage at Rebecca's home where he went berserk after seeing the front room festooned with balloons and cards marking her engagement to another man, Exeter Crown Court was told.
He smashed windows, wrecked the television, broke furniture and slashed to sofa. He tried to fill the house with gas and told police:"I was going to blow the whole place up but only take myself."
Former window cleaner Bridgeman, aged 36, of Reynell Close, Newton Abbot, admitted having a knife in the grounds of a school and in the street outside his ex wife's house.
He also admitted assault by battery of Rebecca and criminal damage at her home in Walnut Close, Chudleigh.
He was jailed for 18 months by Judge Graham Cottle, who told him:"You just went mad at your ex wife's property. Your marriage was over and you had great difficulty accepting that. The trigger was you learning she was to marry again.
"You were in possession of a knife on school premises and at her home. You assaulted her and then began to trash her home. There is no other way of putting it, including using the knife to slash the sofas.
"It is clear from her victim impact statement it was a terrifying experience. Police came and this potentially explosive situation was brought under control."
Miss Bathsheba Cassel, prosecuting, said Bridgeman separated from his wife in April 2013 and the couple were divorced in January the year, six months before these offences, which happened the day after she texted him to say she had got engaged to another man.
The alarm was raised by the head teacher of Chudleigh Church of England Primary School when Bridgeman arrived at around 10 am and asked to see a pupil. He was told it was not allowed during lessons and he was walked back to his car by the head Mr Barnett.
As he got into the car Bridgeman showed the teacher the knife and then drove off at speed towards Rebecca's house where he barged past her as she opened the door.
Miss Cassel said:"He grabbed her around the neck and pushed her inside, causing her some bruising. He took some tablets out of a bag and shook them into his mouth. Rebecca escaped by running out the back door.
"The defendant remained in the property and began to smash up the address. He broke the living room windows, pulled the television onto the floor, smashed mirrors, slashed the sofa and other items and did damage estimated at £5,833.32.
"While in the property he turned on all four gas hobs and he told the police 'I was going to blow the whole place up but only take myself'."
He put down the knife and left the house but was restrained and arrested after taking out a second, smaller knife in the street.
Mr William Parkhill, defending, said Bridgeman is in constant back pain and uses a wheelchair as a result of an injury some time ago. He was also being treated for depression at the time of the incident and had made two suicide attempts.
He said:"His wife's text confirming she was to remarry seems to have pushed him over the edge to the point where he snapped and acted in a way which was wholly out of character and which he is now incredibly ashamed of.
"He did not take the knife out at the school and never used it to hurt or threaten Rebecca. He went to the house and saw cards and balloons congratulating her on the engagement and lashed out at the property.
"He did significant damage but it was to property, not people, and the only person he intended to hurt was himself."
