Woman's life made "a living hell" by obsessive ex-partner who threatened to share intimate pics online

It was claimed Jason Jones bombarded his ex with menacing messages, threatened to publish an intimate photograph of her on social media and punched her kitchen wall so hard he fractured a gas pipe.

But the 28-year-old was spared an immediate prison sentence for stalking when a judge heard he had stayed clear of the woman for almost a year and was happy to abide by a restraining order for the next five years.

“He lost his head following the breakdown of that relationship,” said defence barrister Niamh Ingham. “He was so desperate to see her.”

Recorder Ayesha Siddiqi was told the couple had broken up after six years causing a furious argument in the woman’s kitchen during which he grabbed her, swung her round by her hoody and caused her to crash into a worktop, injuring her collarbone.

He then turned his anger on the kitchen wall with his fist, causing a gas leak which cost more than £200 to repair.

“By the end of that year (2023) the relationship had run its course,” said Ms Ingham. “He didn’t appear to accept that.”

Prosecuting counsel Patrick Williamson said Jones had written to his ex: “To the girl I love, please contact me, I miss you so much. I don’t know how to live without you.”

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One day he went to the house in Lancaster and again started arguing with her. He grabbed a knife, left with it on his motorbike and then returned later to leave it on her doorstep.

He continuously called her and messaged her, said Ms Ingham. But when she blocked him he found a way to contact her using his banking app.

In April last year he messaged her asking her if she had anything to do with the disappearance of his bike. She went to the police and found that it had not been reported stolen, in fact she saw him the following day riding past her house on it.

As the messages became more worrying one said: “Just warning you I will start to be extreme to get your attention.”

And then he messaged: “I want to give you to the end of the day, but it’s got to the point where I don’t know what I do now to get a response. It’s either your car is getting fixed or your explicit picture is going online. I don’t know anymore.”

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One day the woman was at home with her new partner and Jones arrived at the house and started going round the property banging on the doors and windows. The partner called the police and the woman was said to be “distressed and scared.”

In a victim impact statement she said: “I just want all this to stop because it is affecting my mental health. I want to move on with my life. It’s getting to the point where I can’t enjoy my life.

“He has caused me a living hell. His behaviour is erratic and terrifying. I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what I have gone through with him.

“I am overwhelmed with panic. The thought of seeing him or speaking to him makes me physically sick. I don’t want to leave my house because of fear.”

She said she had also had to change her route to work and her working hours in an attempt to avoid any contact with Jones.

“I now spend my life constantly looking over my shoulder, praying I don’t see him. I don’t think I will ever get back to the person I was.

“He has completely destroyed my life.”

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Mr Williamson said Jones’ behaviour had caused the woman “very serious distress.” She had been particularly vulnerable because he had an intimate image of her and she didn’t know whether or not he would use it.

Ms Ingham said her client’s behaviour appeared to be “immature and childish”. He was remorseful about what he had done and realised what it had done to his former partner.

He was in full-time employment and was supporting his family including his mother both financially and emotionally. He said there had been no repeat of the offences or involvement with the police since the case had been brought.

Jones, of King Street, Morecambe, pleaded guilty to assault by beating, criminal damage and stalking without violence.

Recorder Siddiqi told him it was clear, at the time, that he didn’t accept the relationship had ended. Some of his behaviour must have caused her “significant distress”.

He had repeatedly called her and after she had blocked him he continued to message her through his banking app “those messages becoming more threatening.

“In one of those messages you threatened to put explicit images online. That is a particularly unpleasant way to threaten someone – something very personal to her and something you threatened to put in the public domain.

“She wanted it to stop. (She said) it was a living hell. She was overwhelmed with panic, had to make changes to her life.

“The lead offence (here) is stalking because it took place over months and has had a significant impact on her mental health.”

She said Jones had a previous good character, but she added he had “gone off the rails.” She told him: “It needs to stop, it needs to stop now.”

The judge handed him a total prison sentence of 18 weeks, but suspended it for 12 months saying she believed there was “a very real possibility of rehabilitation here.”

She also ordered him to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and 30 rehabilitation activity days.

A restraining order was imposed banning Jones from contact of any kind with his ex. He will be prohibited from going within 100 metres of her home and also barred from entering Charnock Street, Lune Road and Fern Bank, Lancaster for the next five years.