Peter Rimmer left his ex-girlfriend “begging for her life”
A man drove his ex-partner to a canal and threatened to drown her after stealing her dog and sending videos to say she “better come home”.
A court heard how Peter Rimmer left his former girlfriend facing a “recurring nightmare” as she was left “begging for her life”. Rimmer broke into the hairdresser’s home in the early hours of the morning before stealing her pet dog, Nala.
He sent a sting of photos and videos to her on Snapchat, warning her: “Better come home because I’ve got your dog.” As she arrived, Rimmer lured his ex into his car by claiming Nala was inside.
He went on to assault her and threatened to deliberately crash his car during a two-hour drive around Merseyside and Lancashire, the Liverpool Echo reports. Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday afternoon (February 19) that Rimmer, of Ribble Avenue in Southport, had previously been with his victim, Samantha Morris, for five years before they split up.
They then rekindled their relationship around three months prior to July 12 last year, when she finally “told the defendant that she no longer wanted to date him because of his controlling behaviour”.
Ken Grant, prosecuting, described how Ms Morris then visited a number of bars in the town on July 14. During this evening out, she and her friends bumped into Rimmer inside a pub on Lord Street where they watched the Euro 2024 final between England and Spain.
The 25-year-old later drove her home at around 11.30pm, with there having been “no issues between the parties that evening”. Ms Morris was subsequently picked up by a friend roughly half an hour later.
But, shortly after 2am on July 15, Rimmer attempted to call her and began messaging her over Snapchat, asking “you had better answer, I’m on my way to yours”. Around 20 minutes later, he rang her again and shouted: “Where are you? I’m on my way to yours. I’m going to wake your mum up.”
Ms Morris’ mother was then woken by the sound of her front door opening and their dog “squealing”. She then went downstairs to investigate and found that Nala was no longer there.
Rimmer meanwhile sent his ex a picture of the pet via Snapchat alongside the caption “I’ve got Nala”. He then followed this up with a video of the dog in his car with the message: “Better come home because I’ve got your dog.”
However, he then stated in a phone call that “he would not hurt the animal”. Ms Morris’ mum then approached Rimmer, who was sitting in his parked car outside the address, and asked him why he had taken Nala, to which he replied: “It’s her fault. It’s because of her I can’t see my child.”
She then took the dog back and returned inside as her daughter’s former boyfriend left the scene. But, when the complainant subsequently arrived back home at around 3am, he “suddenly arrived in his car” and “told her to get into the car, telling her the dog was in the back of the vehicle”.
After Ms Morris entered the passenger seat, Rimmer “snatched her phone”, locked the doors away and “drove around at speed” along a route taking in Parbold, Aughton, Ormskirk, Burscough and Tarleton. At one stage, he was said to have stopped on a residential street and “dragged her out of the car”.
He then demanded the password to her mobile while dangling it over a drain before pushing her into a wall and a bush. Ms Morris thereafter attempted to call 999 using her Apple watch, Rimmer having re-entered the vehicle after she had told him her passcode.
But he then got back out again and grabbed the device from her wrist, as well as snapping a silver necklace she had been wearing. When she knocked on the door of a nearby house for help, he “apologised and said he would take her home”.
Ms Morris agreed, but Rimmer instead drove her down a farm track where he smashed her phone on a gate. He went on to push her head against a car door before continuing to a canal, where he told her: “I’m going to drown you in the canal. If I can’t have you, no one can.”
She “begged for her life” as a result, after which he “eventually calmed down”. Rimmer then allowed Ms Morris to call her mum from the Shell petrol station on Roe Lane using his phone after warning her: “If you scream, I’ll crash the car.”
He ultimately dropped her back home at around 5am. Mr Grant added: “She recounted to her mum what the prosecution say was an ordeal.”
Ms Morris then recorded a phone call with Rimmer later the same day, during the course of which he stated: “I’m going to get f***ing sent to jail. Can you see CCTV of me kicking the door in?”
This was said to have been a reference to the her salon, a business which operated adjacent to her home. A footmark was later found on the door of the premises, with Rimmer’s blood also being discovered on the windowsill.
Having handed himself in at Southport Police Station, he told detectives under interview following his arrest that he and Ms Morris had “had a little chat and a little argument”. He went on to detail how he believed that she was attending a party after he had dropped her off and that he later returned “to speak to her for one last time”.
Rimmer claimed that he could hear music coming from the property and saw that the light was on, at which stage he “banged and kicked on the door” and “pulled on the window” as he was “angry and frustrated”. Of the car journey, he added that he was “having a hard time deciding whether this was the right thing to do or not” and that “anger took over him”.
In a statement was read out to the court on her behalf, Ms Morris said that she had been left with bruising to her arm and leg as a result of his assaults, adding: “Following the incident, I’ve had a reoccurring nightmare. During the nightmare, I dream about drowning. When I wake, I feel like I’ve been drowning.
“I suffer with anxiety now and don’t like being home alone. I used to like my company. My social life has almost returned to normal. However, when I’m out with friends, I make sure I’m never left alone.
“I’m concerned, when he’s released, that he will be living back in the same area as me. Generally, I’m ok. However, I still have bad days where I overthink everything and question why the defendant thought his behaviour was acceptable.”
Rimmer has one previous conviction for obstructing police and possession of cocaine in 2021, for which he received a community order. The court heard that he previously discovered his mum’s body following her suicide, with Alex Beevers, defending, adding: “He has a variety of qualifications and GCSEs, including plumbing and car mechanics.
“He has an impressive employment history. He worked as a mechanic for five years before beginning his own valeting company. His employment prior to his remand was in recoveries.
“He is not heavily convicted by any stretch of the imagination. The [pre-sentence] report paints a picture of a young man who is bright, intelligent and introspective about his criminality.
“He is genuinely remorseful. He has not sought to justify his actions. He takes the opportunity today, through me, to apologise. He has a daughter who is two years of age. He volunteered that he would not wish his daughter to be exposed to something similar or be exposed to domestic violence.
“These are his thoughts, insightful and from the heart of somebody who has been ruminating during the seven months that he has spent in custody. He has had plenty of time to reflect on himself, the man he wants to be and the father he wishes to be.
“It does paint a rather different picture of him, a more positive picture of him. He comes from a hard working and honest family. He is a polite and well-mannered young man. He has been using his remand time exceptionally wisely.
“He is, deep down, a good person and a hard working person. He is somebody who is capable of contributing a net benefit to society, as he has done before. He tries to be a good father. He had a great role model for a father in his own life. He is trying to emulate that. He knows that he has brought shame on everybody.”
Rimmer admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm, affray and two counts of criminal damage. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool, he was jailed for two years and three months and handed a restraining order by Judge Ian Harris.