A relentless Knaresborough stalker has been jailed after bombarding his beleaguered ex-partner with text messages, turning up at her home and even laying on her garden furniture for several hours after she refused to let him in.

Robert Arthur Nelson, 40, couldn’t accept his relationship with the victim was over and subjected her to a barrage of abusive emails, phone calls, texts and WhatsApp messages, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Jennifer Gatland said Nelson was subject to a suspended prison sentence and a restraining order, banning him from contacting the woman, when he embarked on the six-month harassment campaign.

In March, he was given a one-year suspended prison sentence and 12-month restraining order after he was convicted of controlling and coercive behaviour against the woman, as well as stalking and assaulting her.

Despite the restraining order, Nelson was pestering her within days of the order being imposed.

Nelson – who had been in a relationship with the woman for eight years before they separated in July last year – sent her “numerous” offensive text messages in which he “called her names”.

Ms Gatland added:

“She said there was a cycle in which he would apologise and ask her to unblock him (on her phone). She would (unblock him) because she was scared of him and scared he would go to her house.”

Bombarded with emails

She said that in one incident in April, Nelson turned up at the victim’s home uninvited, jumped over her back gate and tapped on the patio doors demanding to be let in. When she refused, he “laid on outdoor furniture for several hours before leaving”.

Nelson bombarded her with emails between March and September “to attempt to manipulate her into talking him to again and forming a relationship again”.

The victim begged him to leave her alone, but the texts continued, including several WhatsApp messages from early September.

“The (victim) did reply to some (but) she said she did so because she was manipulated by him, then the cycle of abusive messages would start again,” added Ms Gatland.

On one occasion, Nelson sent her a text saying he had seen her leaving her home in a car with another man and that “somebody nearby was watching her house”.

He warned her that if she didn’t reply to him straight away, he would “smash her door and rip both their heads off”.

Ms Gatland said that Nelson had left the victim over 20 voicemails over a four-day period in September.

“In some voice messages, he called her names for blocking him,” she added.

He also threatened to go to her home because he was convinced she was “hiding something”.

“He said he was guessing she was probably with someone and he would probably get arrested, but he didn’t care because at least he would know,” said Ms Gatland.

Trapped in her own home

She said the victim felt “trapped inside her own home, scared to leave her house or go to the shops in case she saw him”.

“Every time her phone goes she fears it’s him,” added Ms Gatland.

She said that the victim, who is a mother and grandmother, had struggled to sleep and was so distressed she lost her appetite.

Nelson, of Nora Avenue, off Stockwell Lane, was brought in for questioning in mid-September and charged with harassment/breach of restraining order. He admitted the offence and appeared for sentence today (November 4) after being remanded in custody.

Ms Gatland told the court that Nelson had had “no regard” for the restraining order and asked for a new one to be imposed for a longer period.

Lost home and job

Defence barrister Beatrice Allsop said that Nelson hadn’t been able to move on from the relationship and had a breakdown in December last year following a series of family bereavements.

He turned to alcohol which he mixed with his medication, exacerbating his mental-health problems, and lost his home and his job due to his offending.

Recorder Patrick Palmer told Nelson: “It’s plain that you have bombarded this lady with countless texts, emails and WhatsApps.”

He described the messages as “extremely unpleasant, causing her a good deal of distress”.

Nelson was given an eight-month jail sentence for breaching the restraining order and a further six months, to run consecutively, for breaching the suspended sentence.

He will serve half of the total 14-month jail sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.

He was also made subject to a new five-year restraining order banning him from contacting the named victim.