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A 60-year-old former police civilian officer has escaped a jail sentence after turning up at a woman’s home expecting sex - armed with an axe, imitation gun and knives.
Ex-bank manager Steve Cook, from Sheerness, was ordered to leave the property but lost his cool when he couldn’t drive out of the Thurnham property because the electronic gates wouldn’t open.
Maidstone Crown Court heard how he banged on the front door before taking an axe to smash his way inside.
The victim was so frightened she fled out of a rear window in Pilgrims Way and called police.
Officers discovered Cook with the axe, three knives and an imitation firearm - and damage to the front door and inside the property.
The former crime reduction officer with Kent Police admitted charges of burglary with intent, criminal damage, possessing a firearm, and three offences of possessing an axe, a lock knife and a hunting knife.
Cook, of Buckthorne Road, was given a two year jail sentence suspended for two years and was ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work for the community.
The court heard how in October last year, Cook - who is married - went to the woman’s home after they meeting over the internet.
Prosecutor Eleanor Scott-Davies said the victim saw the gun in his pocket and realised it was a pellet-firing BB gun and suggested he leave.
He did, but returned demanding to be let in.
“When she refused to open the door, he shouted:’Open the door or I will cut your face off!’,"
She climbed out of a rear window and is so now so “terrified to be in her own home” she has been advised to move.
“When she refused to open the door, he shouted:’Open the door or I will cut your face off!’"
Defence barrister Ian Dear called Cook’s wife, Alison, who told Judge David Griffith-Jones QC she blamed herself and has since forgiven him.
He said Cook had not taken the weapons to the property with intent to cause damage but had become frustrated when he couldn’t activate the electronic gates.
Mr Dear said he had forced his way back in to look for electronic device to open the gates and claimed the damage to the property had not been “gratuitous”.
He said Cook had been a manager at a TSB bank until 1994 before becoming a senior custody officer for Group 4 Security.
From 2002 until 2017 he worked as civilian for Kent Police but claimed he had struggled with the work and finally left.
Since then he has worked in the retail trade, including Aldi but left last year after developing a back injury.
The judge told him: “You have escaped an immediate jail sentence”, before ordering him to remain indoors between 8pm and 7 am for the next four months under an electronic curfew.
The judge told him that he accepted that Cook had no intention of using the BB gun but the number of weapons must have been frightening for the victim.
Cook was also ordered to pay £200 compensation and £500 prosecution costs.
A charge of aggravated burglary - which Cook denied - was ordered to remain on file.
The judge issued a five-year restraining order prohibiting him from contacting the victim.
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