A woman who threatened to stab her neighbour to death in a TikTok video today told a judge she "will never use social media again".
Martina Wylie, who goes under the name "Smiley Wylie" on the platform, turned up outside the victim's home armed with a pair of scissors after posting the troubling clip online. The mum-of-two then told police officers at the scene: "He is gonna die."
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday that Lee Morgan contacted Merseyside Police shortly before 8pm on August 17 last year to report that the 32-year-old had made threats to kill him on social media. Matthew Conway, prosecuting, described how Wylie's post on TikTok was accompanied by a song called "Revenge" with text reading: "When yo debating either to just jump fro [sic] a bridge or stab Lee Morgan from Kirkby or James Welsh from Halewood to death #karmaiscoming #merseysidepolice thanks for NOTHING."
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This was accompanied by emojis of a gun, a knife and a coffin. At the time, the defendant was subject to a restraining order banning her from mentioning Mr Welsh on social media due to her one previous conviction for harassment.
Later the same evening, at roughly 11.30pm, Mr Morgan phoned police again and reported that Wylie – of no fixed address – was outside his home on Stanton Crescent. Officers attended the scene and saw her in the road "shouting and screaming" while pointing towards the complainant.
When taken into a van, she said: "Watch, bang bang. I will f***ing kill him, he is gonna die."
Wylie, whose TikTok profile describes her as an "adult influencer", claimed Mr Morgan had told her 12-year-old daughter that she was an "adult worker". A pair of scissors was subsequently discovered in her hoodie, while she was also found to have rubble in her pocket.
Of this, Wylie told the police "they bricked my window so I was gonna brick their windows" – although she later claimed she had collected it "for a self study on geology". A butter knife was seized from a hold all she had been carrying.
Mark Phillips, defending, told the court: "The defendant accepts full responsibility for her actions. This is a neighbour dispute which has got out of hand.
"She acted in this way as she believed her neighbours were ganging up against her. She is a woman who has problems with her emotions and is not in control of them at all times. She was living basically homeless and travelling from hotel to hotel. She was transporting her belongings with her in bags on her person.
"She has been struggling with mental issues since her adolescence. She is having trouble coping with life. She was a woman at the end of her tether. She is remorseful.
"This is a young woman who has had to contend with a lot and not had the support she requires. She is a person who needs help."
Wylie – who has been in custody since her arrest in the summer – admitted using threatening behaviour, possession of a bladed article in a public place, having an article with intent to damage property and harassment. She was handed a 26-week imprisonment suspended for two years and told to complete 120 hours of unpaid work plus a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 35 days.
Sentencing, Recorder Graham Wells said: "It is extremely concerning that you haven't grasped what you did. You seem not to have completely appreciated the upset and trouble you have caused and the contempt with which you have treated the court.
"I note the mental health problems you have had, and I note your personal problems and the strain and stress under which you were placed by circumstances – not all without your making. I will give you a chance, don't blow it."
Wylie, who was seen wiping tears away with a tissue during the hearing, replied: "Thank you, I won't. I will never use social media again."
She was also handed a restraining order preventing her from contacting Mr Morgan and his wife. Forfeiture and destruction of the scissors and knife was ordered.
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