Man threatened to petrol bomb a bank branch after his accounts had been closed

A man who found out his bank accounts had been closed told bank staff he would go to the nearest branch and threatened to kill those inside, a court heard.

Stephen Graham Mclean Fisher, of Brynteg Place in Bethesda, had previously admitted to making threats to destroy property as well as threats to kill.

Prosecuting, Dafydd Roberts, told Caernarfon Crown Court that the 37-year-old called up Santander on September 11 last year wanting an explanation as to why his accounts with the bank had been closed without his knowledge.

His phone calls were played in court where, according to the prosecution, he initially sounded "reasonable", but his tone changed when the bank representative is unable to share certain information with him.

He told the call handler that "people are f***ing dying" and that he had "petrol and flares in hand".

Mr Roberts explained to the judge how the defendant made a second call while supposedly en route to the branch in the High Street. He continued to make threats and told the second call handler how far away he was from the site.

Fisher told him he was a "high functioning psychopath", that he had the fuel in his hand and was going to pour it through the letterbox.

He was arrested the same day and told police he had been drinking, smoking cannabis and hadn't taken his newly-prescribed medication, according to the prosecutor.

Defending, Ember-Jade Wong, told the court how her client was "mortified" to listen back to the calls, now sober and medicated. She said that he suffers from a wealth of mental health conditions including narcissistic personality disorder, being bipolar and suffering from schizophrenia.

She accepted that his behaviour had crossed the threshold where the judge could only be considering sending Fisher straight to prison. Ms Wong said that Fisher knows he has "nobody to blame but himself" for these actions and wishes to apologise to the staff he caused distress.

Judge Nicola Saffman jailed Fisher for 20 months, saying his behaviour was "disgraceful" and did not believe his mental health was an adequate reason for suspending the spell behind bars.

She also imposed a three-year criminal behaviour order, banning him from engaging in behaviour that causes (intentionally or otherwise) harassment, alarm or distress with any representative from a bank, betting company or service centre across England and Wales.