A mother is terrified to leave her home after being threatened by a blackmailer who said he would rape her and torch her house.

Lucy McCartney is still living under a police protection order after Lawrence Ardon, 25, said he would slit her son's throat before calling at her house in Hove.

On Friday Ardon admitted blackmail and was jailed for two years.

A judge at Lewes Crown Court described the sentence as “so serious only a custodial sentence can be justified”.

But Ms McCartney described how she has become a recluse, unable to open her front door after her ordeal.

She said: “I was called at 2am by a man who said he was in the next door cell to my son in Lewes Prison and was going to cut his throat.

“The caller was telling me he owed him £140 for heroin, which I knew wasn’t true.

“I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs. I didn’t know what to do with myself. He kept calling and kept reiterating what he was going to do. He said he was being released from prison the next day and was going to come and find me and rape me before burning my house down.

“He said so many sexual things in that time I thought I was going to vomit.

“He also seemed to know about me and my history, which was terrifying.

“I called the police in hysterics and they told me to call back if it carried on.

“It did carry on. This time he was saying ‘So you don’t care about your son. He’ll be dead in the morning’.

“I’ll never forget those words. I told him to send someone over and I’d pay immediately.

“By this time it was 5am and the police arrived.

Shortly after there was a knock at the door and I opened the letter box to see a man, who called himself ‘Red Rose’ staring back at me and telling me to give him the money. I stalled him and he, along with the people he was with, were arrested.

“As I got into the police car I saw the word ‘die’ scratched into my car.

“I was struggling to breathe and sobbing. I felt like I was living in a nightmare.

After I gave my statement I had to be taken to hospital with police guard.”

Ardron, of Clarendon Road, Hove, who has previous convictions for robbery, burglary, violence and possession of a knife, made the threats in a row over a £140 debt.

Ms McCartney said she has since moved house.

She said: “A police protection order remains on me, my car and my home but I am still living in total fear.

“I can’t go outside without one of my sons, to the point that I am now a recluse. It has destroyed my life and left me psychologically and mentally disturbed.

“I don’t feel like I’ll ever get closure on this.”