A Leeds woman who threatened to kill her former colleagues after being sacked from a nursery has been jailed.
Stacey Gibson threatened to burn down the Leeds nursery and pre-school and slit staff members' throats.
Prosecutor Bashir Ahmed said she had worked as a nursery practitioner for the nursery for two years.
But he said she was found to have committed gross misconduct and was dismissed in December 2018.
The details of the misconduct were not given during the sentencing hearing.
Eleven months later, Gibson messaged her former manager on Facebook, threatening to burn down the nursery and slit the throats of staff.
The 29-year-old also sent a GIF of a female making a throat slitting motion with a knife and one of Deadlocked and CSI: Miami actor David Caruso shooting a gun with the caption '#I will kill you'.
Gibson then sent a final message saying: "I will burn it down."
Leeds Crown Court heard she was given a conditional discharge with conditions to stay away from the nursery and not to contact its staff.
But four days later Gibson sent her former manager around 20 more messages saying she wanted to kill her, including one that said: "I will kill you one way or another. I have a knife ready in my pocket. You will die."
In one of the messages, she said she was outside the nursery with a knife in her pocket and she 'will use it'.
In her police interview, Gibson made no comment.
She appeared in court and was bailed with strict conditions not to contact the nursery or its staff.
On December 1 last year, she sent 23 messages to another former colleague at the nursery.
The court was told Gibson's initial messages to the woman were not confrontational but when she did not get a reply she threatened to kill her and everyone else who worked at the nursery.
In a statement read to the court, the manager said the police presence at the nursery had affected business, adding: "No parent wants to send their child to a place where it is surrounded by police due to any crime or danger.
"If this continues, we will not have a nursery."
She said she had set up the nursery in a derelict building and spent six-and-a-half years building the business up.
The woman said she had supported Gibson when her mental health deteriorated during her employment at the nursery and was on maternity leave when she was dismissed so she had 'nothing to do with it'.
She also said has felt anxious, distressed and unsafe as a result of the offending.
Gibson, who appeared in court via video link to HMP New Hall, pleaded guilty to two counts of making threats to kill and one count of sending malicious communications.
She has no previous convictions.
The court was told a doctor had assessed Gibson as likely having borderline personality disorder which is aggravated by alcohol and drug abuse.
Eddison Flint, mitigating, said his client had a difficult childhood and has a history of mental health issues and self-harm.
He said Gibson, of Redwood Way, Yeadon, got a new job in 2019 before becoming unemployed again and she was informed by her landlord that she would be evicted, adding: "That downward spiral was aggravated by the fact she lived near the nursery and liked going to Nunroyd Park to get away from the world."
The court was told she was isolated and her mental health has improved since she has been on remand in custody.
Gibson was jailed for 18 months and made subject to an indefinite restraining order.
