Doncaster man threatened to kill wife and sent death plunge video

Nedas Savickas admitted making threats to kill his wife after she decided she wanted a divorce, following a history of abuse, Sheffield Crown Court heard on Tuesday, May 4.

Laura Marshall, prosecuting, told the court how the 40-year-old HGV driver, of Roberts Road, in Edlington, had called a mutual friend in June 2020 ‘indicating that he was going to kill his wife and dispose of her body in the Lake District’.

She described how the following month he had sent a video via Facebook Messenger which showed a woman lying at the bottom of a tower block from which a man could then be seen jumping before landing close to her body.

Ms Marshall said Savickas and his wife had been together for 14 years at the time of the offences and had two children but his wife called described their relationship as ‘difficult’.

He would become ‘verbally aggressive’ when he had been drinking, Ms Marshall told the court, and the couple had previously separated for two years before reconciling.

The court heard how Savickas had in the past been convicted of harassment and common assault against his wife and was made the subject of a restraining order.

Savickas admitted one count of making threats to kill and another of sending electronic communication with the intent to cause distress or anxiety.

Sentencing him to a two-year community order, with the requirement to complete a Building Better Relationships course, Judge Peter Kelson QC said: “Let me be clear. If you had not served your time in prison awaiting trial and had been convicted I would be sending you to prison.

"These two offences are very serious matters. However, you have spent so long in custody that on any analysis you have served your time, so the sentence I impose now is one that is constructive and it is intended to help you so that you can avoid a recurrence of that which occurred with this indictment.”