CONNOR OWEN, SEX OFFENDER FROM LIVERPOOL, SENTENCED FOR KIDNAPPING AND THREATS
A previously convicted sex offender described as a "danger to women" has been sentenced after kidnapping his former partner at knifepoint and threatening her and her brother.Connor Owen, 30, who has significant mental health issues including schizophrenia, entered into a relationship with Toni Roberts in April last year.
Initially, their relationship seemed to be going well, but Owen stopped taking his medication in late May despite being advised by both his probation officer and his partner to continue his treatment.
Liverpool Crown Court was told on Monday, April 15, that Ms Roberts, who has two children aged seven and nine from a previous relationship, decided to end the relationship, believing they did not have a future together.
However, Owen, who is a registered sex offender and had a prior relationship with a 14-year-old girl, was not willing to accept her decision.
Prosecutor Arthur Gibson informed the court that in early October 2023, Owen invited Ms Roberts to his grandparents' house, where he lived.
There, he grabbed her by the neck and forced her into the garden at knifepoint, prompting her to sob as she was coerced outside.
Ms Roberts managed to escape the house and return to her own home via taxi when Owen's grandmother noticed something was wrong.
Afterwards, Owen continued to harass her through numerous texts and calls, which she responded to in an attempt to maintain peace.
Matters escalated on October 25, when Ms Roberts went to the cinema with her children.
She was dropped off and later picked up by her brother, Anthony Dennis.
Prosecutor Gibson explained that outside her house, Ms Roberts and her brother were chatting and vaping when a taxi arrived.
Her brother tried to warn her to get back into the taxi before Owen appeared.
She ran inside, locked the door, and Mr Dennis spoke to the defendant, trying to defuse the situation.
However, Owen then pulled out a knife, held it to Ms Roberts's back, and forced her to walk away from her home.
Owen told her, "shut up or I will shiv you," and warned, "by the time the police get here you will be dead." Mr Dennis called the police and followed the pair in his car.
During the pursuit, Ms Roberts managed to jump into the back of Mr Dennis's car.
Owen then approached the open driver’s side window with the knife, but Mr Dennis was able to pull him away, knocking Owen to the ground with his wing mirror.
The brother and sister escaped back to Ms Roberts’s house and locked the door as Owen headed back to the residence, kicking the front door.
Witnesses, including one neighbor who attempted to intervene, saw Owen threaten them, saying, "f*** off or stab you," before fleeing.
Owen was arrested at his grandparents' address around 9:15 pm.
He initially told police he would cooperate.
The recovered knife was seized, and Owen was taken to Belle Vale custody suite where he refused to answer police questions.
Due to his previous sexual offense convictions, which include a nine-year sentence plus four years on extended licence, Owen was returned to prison.
Despite this, he continued to threaten Ms Roberts by sending her a letter on November 17, while incarcerated.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Ms Roberts expressed deep fear and trauma, saying: "My life and my kids' lives could have been taken away in a blink of an eye...
my life will never be the same." She added, "I have been looking over my shoulder in case he has come back to get us.
I am scared of every Delta taxi that I see.
I have had nightmares since, I can't sleep properly, relax or eat a meal.
My family could have been three members down.
My children ask, 'is the bad man coming back?' I am scared of the future and know he is capable of the worst." The court was told Owen has a lengthy history of violence, including convictions for assault and assaulting police officers.
He also received a custodial sentence in February 2012 for possession of crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply.
In 2014, he was sentenced to prison for sexual assault and rape of a teenager, and in April 2017, he was additionally sentenced for possession of a mobile phone while incarcerated.
Owen appeared in court on November 24 last year, admitting guilt to charges including threatening with a weapon in a private place, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, kidnapping, and two counts of threatening with a blade or pointed article in a public place.
His solicitor, Sarah Holt, stated in mitigation that Owen expressed remorse, apologized to Ms Roberts, and recognized the fear he caused.
She described her client’s offences as relatively minimal physically but acknowledged the significant emotional and psychological harm inflicted.
Ms Holt also argued that the kidnapping was at the lower end of crown court cases in terms of severity and explained Owen's background, noting his "damaged childhood" and the impact it had on him.
She emphasized that his guilty pleas at the earliest opportunity were a positive factor.
His Honour Judge David Aubrey KC, in sentencing Owen, emphasized that the offending must be understood as stemming from an abusive relationship and a refusal to accept its end.
The judge explained that Owen's visit to Ms Roberts’s house was driven by "jealousy and possessiveness," and that Mr Dennis’s attempts to calm him down merely provoked him further, likening it to “a red rag to a bull.” Judge Aubrey noted the victim impact statement, which detailed how Ms Roberts and her children were shaken, crying, and fearful, with her living in constant worry about Owen returning.
The judge acknowledged Owen’s mental health issues, including anxiety, personality disorder, and schizophrenia, and accepted that medication adherence could have mitigated some of his culpability.
Nevertheless, he condemned Owen’s continued refusal to take medication, despite medical advice.
He described Owen as a "possessive and jealous man," and recalled his dangerous history, including a previous 2014 conviction for being a danger to women.
The judge remarked that Owen remains a significant threat to women and the public.
Owen, of Ermine Crescent, Everton, was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison, with an extended licence of four years and four months.
Additionally, he received an indefinite restraining order barring contact with Ms Roberts in any way.
