Sacked nursery worker threatened to 'slit staffs' throats' and 'burn down' building

A sacked nursery worker threatened to "slit throats" of staff and burn the building "to the ground" just days after being released from prison.

Stacey Gibson has twice been jailed for making threats to the owners and employees at Pebbles Nursery and Pre-School. She has also been given a restraining order not to contact the workers or go near the building in Nunroyd Park, Yeadon.

Gibson had worked at the nursery for two years but was fired in December 2018 for gross misconduct, our sister title Yorkshire Evening Post reports.

On 8 October last year, three days after being released from her second custodial sentence, she sent a Facebook message to the former owner of the nursery which read "I'm sorry". After receiving no reply, she sent another five days later saying "hello".

The recipient replied saying she was going to call the police and wanted Gibson to cease contact. But between 28 and 30 October, Gibson sent a further 45 messages, with at least 20 of them making threats to the woman and her husband, prosecutor Nick Aldington told Leeds Crown Court.

The messages read "I will burn your house down", "I will kill you and your husband", "I am capable of killing you" and "I have a knife ready for you".

Gibson, 33, also sent a message on Facebook directly to the nursery telling them she was watching the staff and was going to "burn it to the ground". Days later, and just an hour before she was arrested at St George's Crypt in Leeds city centre where she had been staying, she sent an email which read: "I will come to the nursery and kill you all."

She gave a no-comment interview with police but later admitted two counts of making threats to kill, two breaches of her restraining order, making a threat of criminal damage and harassment. She was returned to HMP New Hall and appeared in court for sentencing via video link from the prison.

She was initially jailed in March 2020 for 18 months and then again in April 2021 for a further 18 months for similar offending against the former owner and staff.

A victim impact statement from the former owner said Gibson's conduct in recent years had forced her to sell the nursery. She was also still wary of being out alone in case Gibson was watching her.

Mitigating on her behalf, Eddison Flint said: "It's quite a sad case. She is clearly mentally unwell, but there is starting to be an appreciation of the impact this has caused. This is now her third set of offending against the nursery. She gets locked up, gets released and re-offends.

"She has no stable accommodation, and she felt she had no choice but to go back to prison. It's clear sending her to prison and releasing her with limited support is simply not working."

But Judge Tahir Khan KC jailed her for four years and told her: "It was a vendetta you were pursuing against anyone associated with Pebbles Nursery. It's clear that your behaviour was persistent over a long period of time. You were determined to carry on making threats."