A bodybuilder threatened to murder his girlfriend after discovering his lover was modelling for an adult lingerie internet site, a court heard.
Warren Harlow, 31, threatened to kill Natasha Ellis, 35, when an argument over some modelling photographs turned heated.
High on a cocktail of cocaine and booze Harlow grabbed the terrified mother of his child by the throat and threatened to stab her.
She eventually fled shoeless and in a bra to a neighbour begging for protection and Harlow later tried to claim the throat marks were the result of kinky sex.
Canterbury Crown Court on Wednesday heard how the couple had a “stormy” relationship and despite having a child together did not live together.
On December 13 last year Harlow arrived at Natasha’s home around 8am and the couple started drinking.
An argument erupted based on Natasha’s modelling underwear for an adult website – something Harlow did not approve of.
But at around 2pm when Harlow saw photographs of his underwear clad girlfriend on Facebook he lost his temper.
Livid Harlow – who is 6ft 8in – began calling her a “slut” and grabbed her by the throat with his left hand and started to choke her.
Suddenly he grabbed a kitchen knife from the worktop and began screaming “I’m going to kill you” in his petrified girlfriend’s face.
Frightened Natasha managed to break free and ran to a neighbour who managed to calm Harlow down rather peculiarly by offering him a shave with a cut-throat razor.
Police then arrested Harlow who denied the attack attributing the sex marks on her neck to “violent roll play in the course of consensual sex”.
Prosecutor Alex Rooke told how began the relationship with Ms Ellis in 2009.
He said: “The couple have a young child although they don’t live together. They have described their relationship as being stormy in the past.
“Ms Ellis, it appears has her issues with alcohol, and says Harlow has issues with alcohol and cocaine.”
“On December 13 Harlow told her he was under the influence of cocaine and may well have been up all night.
“They drank through the morning, although she claims he wasn’t overly intoxicated as they were both regular drinkers.
“The cause of the argument is based on Ms Ellis modelling underwear for an adult website.
“It was now about 2pm and he began calling her a slut and then he grabbed her throat with his left hand and started to choke her.
“He was still shouting abuse, calling her a whore and a slag.
“She said his grip was tight and he is a large man, about 6ft 8in tall and a large build.
“With his right hand, he grabbed a knife from the worktop which he held to her throat shouting that he was going to kill her.
“She now feared for her life, thinking she was shortly about to be stabbed to the throat.
“He kept repeating: ‘I’m going to kill you’. She later said she had never been so scared in her life before.”
Thug Harlow of Westgate-on-Sea, Kent., had been released early from a prison sentence for having an imitation firearm and has now been recalled to prison.
Andrew Espley, defending, said the injuries suffered by Ms Ellis “were very, very minor”, adding: “That doesn’t make it any less serious given the nature of the offences.”
Warren, who admitted making threats to kill and assault by beating, was given a nine-month jail sentence.
He is now taking courses inside jail to become a fitness instructor.
