Game of Thrones man facing six months in prison

Game of Thrones man facing six months in prison

THE hugely popular Game of Thrones television series is renowned for its violence and graphic images.

Scenes have been filmed all over Northern Ireland, including in Down District, and one of the set builders has been 34 year-old Downpatrick man, Damien Laverty.

However, Laverty is facing six months in prison after inflicting his family to 

a terrifying series of events which culminated in him setting fire to his wife’s car.

Laverty, of Vianstown Park, appeared at Downpatrick Court on Thursday charged with a series of offences including arson, resisting police, attempted criminal damage and sending a menacing phone message.

A prosecution lawyer said Mrs. Laverty telephoned the police at 5pm on September 29 last year and told them her estranged husband was refusing to leave the family home. When police arrived, Laverty left the premises, but started texting his wife.

She turned off her phone when she went to sleep that night, but when she turned it on the next morning she received a text saying he would kill her.

The woman was getting their children ready for school that morning when she saw Laverty was in the back garden.

He went to the back door of the house, kicked the glass panel and shouted for her to let him in.

When she refused he picked up a slab of concrete from the back garden and smashed the window of the woman’s car which was sitting in the driveway.

Laverty then opened up the petrol tank of the car and lit a lighter near it. 

He picked up a coat from the car and set it on fire and then put it back in the car.

He also released the handbrake and the car rolled into the street in front of their home. He continued smashing the windows and body of the car with the concrete slab.

He then took a wheelie bin and threw it at the car causing it to melt from the heat of the fire.

When the police arrived and tried to arrest him Laverty struggled with the police and had to be restrained.

During the entire incident, the woman and their children were watching from inside the house, the court was told.

Defence barrister, Alan Blackburn, said that Laverty was upset that “the marriage was coming to an end.”

“He realises his behaviour was unacceptable,” he said, adding that Laverty works as a set builder for the Game of Thrones television show.

District Judge Greg McCourt described the case as “exceptionally serious.”

“This has a very serious effect on the injured party and on the children,” he told Laverty. “They must have been terrified by your behaviour.

“The nature of these charges has to be met by imprisonment,” he said.

Mr. McCourt sentenced Laverty to a total of six months in prison but he released him on bail pending an appeal.