A man told his ex-girlfriend "people are going to watch me kill you" as he threatened to kill her with a sword outside the school she worked at – before being fought off by dinner ladies.

Tomaz Wieloszynski, 36, of Walgrave Street, Hull, attacked his former partner in Beresford Avenue on December 10 last year before colleagues and bystanders came to her rescue, reports Hull Live .

He has now been jailed for two years following the incident, which sparked a stand-off with armed police which lasted several hours.

Hull Crown Court heard that Wieloszynski and the victim started a relationship in July last year, but it was "marred by violence" within weeks.

The woman broke up with Wieloszynski on August 21, the court heard, but following that he sent her text messages and called her on a daily basis and was "constantly" at the house where she lived with her three children.

Stephanie Hollis, prosecuting, said: "She says he stated to her: 'If you're not going to be with me, you're not going to be with anyone.'"

She said he had told her he had "nothing to lose" and threatened to kill her.

At around 9am on December 10 last year, a staff member at a primary school where the victim worked saw Wieloszynski at the school gates.

Tomaz Wieloszynski told his former partner 'I'm going to kill you'

When she arrived for work just before 11am, he immediately approached her and pulled out a large silver sword with a blade around 50cm long, the court heard.

Miss Hollis said: "He began to slash at nearby bushes with the sword, saying, 'This is how I'm going to kill you, people are going to watch me kill you. You don't believe me? Watch. Watch me kill you'."

He started waving the sword in her face and then pushed her, the court heard, hitting her in the head several times with the sword, "fortunately causing no injury".

He then told her: "You're not going to work, I'll kill you before you go to work."

As she tried to push past him, he slapped her, which is when one of her colleagues, a dinner lady at the school, saw her being pushed around and went to intervene.

He had his back to her and she pulled him backwards by his rucksack, Miss Hollis said, shouting for the victim to get inside the school.

Grant Fletcher, a builder, was also in the street when the attack began and he managed to take a photo of Wieloszynski before arming himself with a lead pipe from his van and going to try to help, calling the police as he went.

He spoke to Hull Live in December, describing how he had pursued Wieloszynski with other builders into a nearby tenfoot, where he started swearing and waving his sword at them before escaping down Beverley Road on his bicycle.

He was arrested at his home in Walgrave Street at around 4pm that afternoon, the court heard, where police found the sword hidden behind a wardrobe.

The court was told Wieloszynski has several previous convictions for offences in his native Poland, including two for domestic violence in 2012 and 2013.

He has also served time in the UK for assaulting a police officer in 2018.

Mark Savage, mitigating, said that although Wieloszynski had denied the offences when first interviewed by police, but he had been "extremely intoxicated" and had struggled to recall what had happened.


"They showed him the photo in January and there was no hesitation in him saying, 'I don't remember that, but it is me,'" he said.

"Before this incident he had attended Alcoholics Anonymous and he knows he has alcohol problems and he wishes to begin again getting the help that he had.

"He is is in no doubt that his behaviour would have been frightening for all parties.

"He has learned some harsh lessons and it fills him with horror that he could have hurt anybody in this situation."

Sentencing Wieloszynski, Recorder Jennifer Carter-Manning said: "Some remarkable witnesses did try their best to help, called the police and intervened.

"Their behaviour is all the more impressive given the photo I have seen. It is difficult to imagine that anybody looking at that would have been anything other than very scared.

"This offence is so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified."

She jailed Wieloszynski for two years, with an 18-month sentence for affray set to run concurrently to that.