A Knaresborough man who became so fixated on a woman that he broke a restraining order four times has been jailed by York Crown Court.
Michael Lonsdale, 37, sent his victim three WhatsApp messages on May 31 this year. York Crown Court heard that the messages were apologetic — Lonsdale told her he was sorry.
Prosecutor Kelly Sherif said despite their non-threatening content, they amounted to a persistent breach of a court order.
The court heard Lonsdale was first handed a restraining order in September 2020 after he assaulted his victim. Just a week later, he broke the order and was convicted of battery towards her.
A month later, in October 2020, Lonsdale was jailed for 24 weeks after he tried to strangle his victim, whilst high on cocaine and whisky.
His third breach of the restraining order occurred in January this year, for which Lonsdale was handed another prison sentence. This time he was sentenced to 32 weeks for stalking her.
The court heard that when he was questioned after his latest breach, Lonsdale told police that he harboured sexual fantasies involving ‘swinging’ with his victim and that he could be violent towards her again, if under the influence of drugs.
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In a statement, Lonsdale’s victim, who we have chosen not to name said:
“When he strangled me…I feared for my life. He can change into an unpredictable person. When Michael is out of prison, I will not go out alone. I feel like this is never going to end.”
Defending Lonsdale, Harry Crowson told the court that the three WhatsApp messages did not represent a serious breach of the restraining order.
‘Immense impact’
Mr Crowson said his client was in prison because of the latest breach and that he was making an effort to move forward. Lonsdale volunteers as a ‘care buddy’, which involves helping other prisoners who have physical difficulties.
He has lost his job as a video editor and hopes to retrain in physical therapy once he is released.
Jailing Lonsdale for 14 months, Judge John Iqbal told him:
“You tried to strangle her. Since then she has never felt safe. She fears you will relapse into that behaviour again. When you are not in a custodial setting, she restricts her behaviour.
“The messages in themselves were not threatening. But the impact of them on her has been immense’.
