A Ripon man who wilfully refused to obey court orders and stay away from his ex-partner has been jailed for two years.

Jack Wrightson, 37, repeatedly turned up at the victim’s home despite a court injunction and restraining order banning him from contacting or approaching her, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Oliver Kilvington said that Wrightson had a “history of domestic violence” against the named victim with whom he had been in a relationship for four years before they split up.

The restraining order, which was imposed last summer after Wrightson was convicted of battering the victim, banned him from going to her home and contacting her except through designated third parties or solicitors.

However, on February 22 this year, Wrightson drove to her street and was stood on the end of a green when, within earshot of the victim, he shouted in an “aggressive” manner: “I’ll drop your mum.”

He then told her: “It’s coming.”

The victim, feeling “intimidated, threatened and upset”, went back inside her house and Wrightson “remained on the far side of the green”.

He was arrested for that offence the following month but told police the allegations were “a load of rubbish”.

'I’m emotionally exhausted'

He initially denied the breach when he appeared before magistrates earlier this year. A trial was scheduled and Wrightson was released on court bail with conditions not to have any contact with his ex-partner and not to go to her address.

But he wilfully ignored the injunction and went to her home on April 15. He was charged with a second breach of the order but again made denials, and another trial was scheduled, only for Wrightson to enter belated guilty pleas to both offences.

Wrightson, of Bishopton Place, Ripon, appeared for sentence via video link at the Crown Court today (June 16) after being remanded in custody.

In a statement read out by the prosecution, the victim, a mother-of-two, said she was “just a normal girl” before she met Wrightson but was now “constantly on edge” and didn’t feel safe in her own home.

She added:

Previous convictions

Wrightson had previous convictions for 11 offences including a previous breach of the restraining order in November last year for which he received a 34-week suspended prison sentence.

In that instance, the victim made an emergency call to police saying that Wrightson was ringing her doorbell and “threatening to burn her car down”.

Earlier that year, when the original restraining order was imposed, he was convicted of battery and stalking the victim between late October and early December 2024. That also resulted in a suspended jail sentence.

In that case, Wrightson “bombarded” the victim with phone calls “demanding to know where she was” and repeatedly turned up at her home uninvited and while on police bail.

Mr Kilvington said that on one day in November of that year, Wrightson made 100 phone calls to the victim. She didn’t answer, so Wrightson went to her home, “barged his way in” and pushed her into a shoe cupboard.

Defence barrister Shebanee Devadasan said that Wrightson, who worked as a self-employed decorator, had been suffering from depression after splitting up with the victim and risked losing his home if he were jailed.

Recorder Simon Jackson KC said that Wrightson had simply “ignored” the restraining order and described the threats he made to the victim as “appalling”.

He added:

Wrightson was jailed for two years and made subject to a new restraining order with the same restrictions but which will run for an indefinite period.