Mother received head-butt from son who was high on M-Cat

A SON high on M-Cat headbutted his mother and threatened her with a carving knife, Grimsby Crown Court heard.

David Dowling, 20, of Selbourne Road, Grimsby admitted affray on September 22 against Sharon Dowling and Richard Siddons.

He also admitted attempted theft of a 40-inch TV which he tried to cycle away with after the violence in the home.

Dowling was also in breach of a previous community order by failing to attend sessions with Humberside Probation Service.

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Judge David Tremberg sentenced him to a total of 15 months in prison – one month for the breach, 12 months for affray and two months for attempted theft of the TV.

The judge told Dowling: "The level of offending is escalating in a worrying way.

"It is the experience of this court that when angry people arm themselves and start waving them about unchoreographed, someone gets hurt."

Dowling and his partner were living at his mother's home at the time of the domestic violence.

Prosecuting, Gordon Stables said the violence flared after Dowling strongly refuted accusations from his mother that he had stolen a Freeview box from under her bed.

Sharon Dowling received a series of threatening texts from her son on her mobile phone when he was at another address.

He also threatened Mr Siddons. Despite pleas to Dowling not to return home, he charged into the Selbourne Road property and punched his mother.

She shouted at him to leave because his young daughter and her cousin were in the house.

But he grabbed her by the throat and pushed her over. He stormed out of the room into the kitchen and returned with a carving knife, shouting that he was going to kill both the adults.

A struggle took place between the son and his mother and she was headbutted. The knife was dropped and Dowling began attacking Mr Siddons.

Mr Stables told how Dowling then grabbed the 40 inch TV set and walked out of the home and tried to cycle away with it under his arm.

He was pursued by his mum and Mr Siddons, who retrieved the TV despite having the bicycle thrown at them.

They suffered facial injuries, the court heard, but the mother declined to submit a victim impact statement against her son.

Mr Stables said: "The mother was torn about making a statement, but because of her son's behaviour she felt compelled to do so."

For Dowling, Bernard Gateshill said his client's life had been out of control due to cannabis and M-Cat abuse.

He admitted taking the Freeview box in order to purchase drugs.

On his client's behalf, he said he accepted he abused his mother's hospitality and had behaved wrongly.

He said he did not remember making the threats.