Isle of Wight man sent vile text messages to his own parents

Ricardo Silva, of George Street, Ryde, appeared before Isle of Wight magistrates on Tuesday (March 14).

The 37-year-old admitted sending text messages which conveyed a threat, in Shanklin, between October 17 and October 29 last year.

Prosecutor, Ann Smout, told the court Silva sent a series of extremely abusive and threatening messages to his own parents.

Among them, he wrote: “please kill yourselves, otherwise I will find a way for you to die”.

Mrs Smout said he had become homeless after returning to the Island from Portugal, and the messages had arisen following a family argument.

She said Silva’s parents did not support the prosecution’s case against him.

In police interview, Silva told officers his parents owed him a lot of money and had been messing him about, and they contacted the police out of spite.

Silva, representing himself, told the bench his parents were lovely people who worked very hard and he should never have sent the messages to them.

He said he had gone to Portugal for four months to look after his late grandfather, and was made homeless by his parents, whom he lived with, on his return to the UK following a minor argument.

He lost a lot of money looking after his grandad and his business suffered.

He apologised for his behaviour, and saw his case adjourned to April 14 so a pre-sentence report could be drawn up.

He was granted unconditional bail until that date.