RAF veteran jailed for blackmail and stab threats on partner

Michele Castiglia was jailed for a total of two years and nine months when he appeared at Swansea Crown Court accused of blackmail, making threats to kill, criminal damage, and threatening to damage property.

He had previously pleaded guilty to all charges.

The court heard that Castiglia argued with his partner at their Fishguard home on the morning of September 8. She took their children to school, and when she returned, the argument resumed, with the defendant calling her a “c***” and a “rat” before going upstairs.

Prosecutor Thomas Scapens said his partner described him as coming back downstairs “in a smug manner” and he told her that he had punched a hole in the wall. She told him to leave, which he did.

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Later that day, she received a message from Castiglia. It read: ‘Tell your dad that there better be money in my account by 6 o’clock or I’ll go through you and your family like a f****** train’.

He also continued to send her abusive messages.

Shortly after 8pm, she told Castiglia not to come home, to which he replied that he never wanted to see her or their children again and that they were “dead to him”.

But at just before 10pm that night, he turned up at the house and began trying to force his way inside.

He messaged her saying: ‘Phone the police. I’m going to stab you or I’m going to kill you’, Mr Scapens said.

The prosecutor said that the victim “felt so scared he’d find a way in, she ran to the children’s bedroom and closed the windows and called the police”.

“She believed he would have stabbed her if he got in to the property, even if she was holding their baby.”

She described the house as “shaking” from Castiglia’s attempts to get inside, and Castiglia also threatened that “a boulder” would go through her window.

When the police arrived, concerned neighbours told officers that Castiglia had fled down a lane, and he was arrested.

Michele Castiglia admitted blackmail, making threats to kill, criminal damage, and threatening to damage property. (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)

Castiglia, 37, of Clive Road, has two convictions for four offences. This includes a previous conviction involving this same victim in 2015 where he grabbed her around the neck in a bar in Fishguard.

“He bitterly regrets what’s happened here and the manner in which he dealt with it,” said Jon Tarrant, defending.

Mr Tarrant said that Castiglia suffered from mental health issues from his service in the RAF, and had been drunk at the time of the offences.

He added that the threats were made through messages, meaning the children would not have been exposed to them.

The court heard that the victim did not want a restraining order so as to allow Castiglia to co-parent their children, despite their relationship ending.

The judge, Recorder Christian Jowett, sentenced Castiglia to two years and nine months for blackmail, and a concurrent sentence of two years and four months for making threats to kill. He received no separate penalty for criminal damage or threatening to damage property.