Stalker made his ex-partner's life a 'living hell'

Paul Jeffries filed a malicious report to social services claiming she was not looking after their child properly and he repeatedly turned up at her home demanding to be allowed in.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the couple had been in an 'violent and controlling' relationship for 14 years before his victim brought it to an end last September.

Rachel Masters, prosecuting, said Jeffries had already been warned about harassing his former partner before he embarked on his campaign of stalking.

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She said: "Following the breakdown of the relationship, the defendant made a complaint to the social services about the complainant's ability to care for their child, which caused them to open up a case file. It would appear that as a result of his own conduct that the defendant was prohibited from contacting the child but still attempted to do so."

Paul Jeffries

Miss Masters said the 51-year-old continued to attend the complainant's address despite having bail conditions prohibiting from doing so.

"The complainant was at her father's address over the road when she saw the defendant attend her address on two occasions, as a result of it, she felt too scared to go home," she added.

The court heard how Jeffries told the complainant that his bail conditions had been weakened in August and he started turning up at her home again.

Miss Masters said he even offered the couple's daughter money to sit in his van and tried to take her to the park despite being barred from doing so.

The constant harassment resulted in the complainant losing her rented home and Jeffries placed a post on Facebook offering a reward for information about where his former partner was now living.

The court heard how Jeffries had a previous conviction for threats to kill and affray in connection with an ex-partner.

Jeffries, of Havilland Road, Thornaby, pleaded guilty to a single charge of stalking.

Robert Mochrie, in mitigation, said he was not going to rely on the contents of his client's pre-sentence report and conceded that his only mitigation was his guilty plea to the offence.

Judge Paul Watson QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, said: "It (pre-sentence report) is very lengthy, very comprehensive and partly makes me wonder why your client pleaded guilty.

"It was everybody else's fault other than his and makes for very unattractive reading."

Sentencing the defendant to two years and three months in prison, the judge added: "This was a bad case in which you persisted in your selfish and intimidating conduct towards your former partner for about three months.

"The relationship ended in 2020 through your violence and control and you began harassing and intimidating her by making a wholly unjustified complaint to social services.

"She never knew from one day to the next what you were likely to do but for three months between July and September this year, you made her life an absolute misery - a living hell."

Jeffries was also made subject to an indefinite restraining order.

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