A jilted thug who trashed his girlfriend’s flat and left a trail of £8,000 in damage when she said she no longer loved him has been jailed.
Vindictive Martin Geraghty, 26, broke everything he could find in pregnant Rebecca Shaw’s home and threw food over the walls and floor.
He wrecked everything in sight – including her four-year-old son’s toys – and police said it was easier to list the items that HADN’T been broken.
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Geraghty also damaged a car outside as he hurled things out of a broken window.
Rebecca, 23, was so traumatised she was unable to carry on living in the flat in Dover, Kent.
The mother-of-one had told Geraghty she was pregnant with his child just two weeks before and he feared he would be barred from seeing the baby.
He admitted burglary, criminal damage and assaulting a police officer and was jailed for 18 months at Canterbury Crown Court.
Jim Harvey, prosecuting, said: “The two had been in a relationship for three months but were separated for some time before she discovered she was pregnant.
“The relationship was volatile between the two of them.”
Rebecca said: “He came up to me in a bar and said: ‘Just look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t love me’. I said: ‘No, I don’t love you.’
“It reminded me as if he was copying a line from a soap opera.”
Mr. Harvey said towards the end of the evening Geraghty started shouting abuse at her and her friends and she returned to her flat at 3am to find it trashed.
He said: “Geraghty had gone into every room and damaged everything, including causing structural damage as well as furniture and electrical goods.
“He had also thrown food all over the walls and property.
“Ms Shaw was frantic, crying, screaming and not knowing what to do.
“One officer said that it would have been easier to catalogue those items which were not damaged or destroyed than those that were.
“Ms Shaw never returned to live in the flat again.”
Police dogs tracked Geraghty to a garage roof and where he shouted and repeatedly spat at officers to avoid arrest.
When PC Timothy Bott got hold of him he tried to headbutt him before biting him in the thigh.
Geraghty, of Dover was also banned from contacting Rebecca for five years.
Judge James O’Mahony told him that spitting and biting a police officer was “disgusting”, adding “only dogs and animals bite”.
Oliver Kirk, defending, said: “He has messed up really badly.
“He was undoubtedly suffering frustration because the relationship had not continued and will have a knock-on effect on his relationship with his baby.
“He accepts his behaviour was inexcusable but he is an intelligent and likeable man but one who is isolated and confused.
“He feels great sorrow and he has messed up his own life.”
Outside court Rebecca, who plans a career in catering, said: “When I walked in I thought there was blood over the walls – only to discover it was tomato ketchup.
“He had thrown food everywhere.
“I couldn’t believe it. It was absolute devastation. Every panel in the shower had been smashed. Pots and pans had been thrown at a car parked below.
“My four-year-old son’s things were smashed, he had thrown his clothes out of the window and all of my clothes were ripped. I was left with just that which I was standing up in.”
