An Ipswich man who waited outside his ex-partner’s workplace after sending her a photo of a knife with which he threatened to stab her has been fined after he admitted breaching a court order.

David Chamberlain was given an 18 month prison sentence suspended for two years by a judge at Ipswich Crown Court in 2020 after he admitted threatening to kill his former partner and sending threatening messages.

In addition to the suspended sentence he was given a 25 day rehabilitation activity requirement and ordered to attend a Building Better Relationships programme.

He was also banned from contacting the victim for two years.

On Monday (May 9) Chamberlain, of Haselmere Drive, Ipswich, was back in the dock at Ipswich Crown Court and admitted breaching the suspended sentence order by failing to attend two appointments on October 26 and November 23 last year.

After hearing that the suspended sentence order had now expired, Judge Emma Peters fined 29-year-old Chamberlain £130 and ordered him to pay £120 costs.

At Chamberlain’s sentencing hearing in 2020 the court heard he had been drunk and preoccupied with recovering money from the victim.

In a series of texts he threatened to stab her outside work and sent a photo of a knife with the message: “That’s what I would use.”

He had subsequently turned up outside her work as she left for the evening and fearing for her safety she had contacted the police.

During a police interview, after his arrest Chamberlain admitted sending the messages after he’d been drinking and had been preoccupied with recovering the money to pay bills and rent.

Sentencing Chamberlain in 2020 Judge Rupert Overbury said:: “You were preoccupied with getting the money you were owed.

“When she wouldn’t until you picked up your belongings and returned the key to her property, it incensed you, and you behaved in a way that was quite wrong.

“You don’t have a history of violence, and it may well be right that you had no intention of carrying out your threats, but you put her in fear that you would.

“Her perfectly reasonable approach to the break-up of your relationship infuriated you to the point you made increasingly violent threats – borne out of anger, frustration and drink.”