A THUG who left his victim fearing for his life after threatening him with a machete has been given a lengthy prison sentence.

Florin Scorcea also launched a tirade of verbal abuse towards his Lovely Lane housemate before spitting at him and threatening to defecate on his dead relatives.

The 42-year-old, who was assisted at Liverpool Crown Court by a Romanian interpreter, was found guilty of making threats to kill, blackmail and two counts of assault by a jury following a trial.

After being hauled back before a judge to hear his sentence, he was told that it must reflect the serious risk he poses to the public due to his violent and intimidatory nature.

This is not the first time that Scorcea found himself on the wrong side of the law, with the court hearing how he was previously jailed for attempted murder in Spain.

Revisiting evidence heard during the trial before passing his sentence, judge David Swinnerton spoke of how on March 16, the defendant assaulted his first victim by shoving and swearing at him in the kitchen of their shared home.

This followed an argument in which his housemate wanted to discuss being kept awake by Scorcea playing loud music.

The following day, Scorcea’s two housemates were again in the kitchen when he entered the room to get another beer from the fridge.

He asked his second victim for money which he claimed he was owed. When the victim said he did not owe anything, the defendant decided that he would get the money using intimidation.

Scorcea threatened to slice his housemate up with a knife, rape his young daughter and defecate on his dead loved ones. He also used a lot of ‘highly abusive’ phrases and spat at him.

He said: “I will beat you until you are s******g your pants. I will mess you up.”

Warrington Guardian:

Liverpool Crown Court

Later the same day, Scorcea once again confronted the same victim while holding a machete above his head and a knife in the other hand. Approaching him, he said: “I will kill you.”

Giving evidence during the trial, the victim revealed that he remains ‘very afraid’ of the defendant and was visibly shaking while addressing the jury.

He said: “I have never known a man like him in my life. I fear that when he is released, he will kill me.”

Prosecutor Paulinus Barnes revealed to the court the extent of Scorcea’s criminal record, which includes previous offences committed in Romania, Spain and the UK.

Summing up, judge Swinnerton reflected on Scorcea’s pre-sentence report produced by the probation service and concluded that an extended prison sentence was necessary to protect the public from harm.

He said: “You refuse to take responsibility, which is shown by the case going to trial, and you have demonstrated no remorse.

“Your attitude condones violence as a means to settle disputes when you feel you are being disrespected, and you have a tendency to assert power and control by intimidation.

“I am required to consider the issue of dangerousness, and whether you pose a significant risk of causing serious harm by committing further offences. My view is that you do.

“You are man that drinks heavily and commits offences when drunk, which makes you all the more dangerous.”

Scorcea was sentenced to five years in prison with an extended licence period of a further three years.

A restraining order was made banning him from contacting the two complainants for 10 years or going within 100 metres of their home, while an application for the forfeiture and destruction of the machete and knife was granted.