A West Cumbrian man has been jailed for harassing his ex-partner over the course of several weeks.
Matthew Adam Taylor, 31, began his criminal contact on October 1 with a message which read: “I will come and smash your face in.”
The next day Taylor turned up at her house “shouting and swearing abuse outside,” Carlisle Crown Court heard.
Five days later he sent more messages to her and shouted comments at men in the vicinity of his ex.
She reported his harassment to police and asked him to stop despite officers being involved. But prosecutor Brendan Burke said: “The tone got nastier.”
Taylor, of Sandy Lonning, Maryport, threatened to assault the woman’s son, delivered vile verbal abuse and made accusations.
She again went to the police, who visited her address after more contact from him via an unknown number but that same day she received multiple calls from him, some while officers were at her address.
Taylor had also made more contact which he pretended was not from him and also spoke to the woman in person on October 26 while she was in Workington with a friend.
In court today, Taylor admitted harassment between September 29 and October 29. That offence was committed in breach of a community order previously imposed for an affray, Taylor having challenged his half-brother to a fight against a background of bad blood.
Taylor had also flouted the order by twice failing to attend for unpaid work as he and the woman’s relationship broke down.
Kim Whittlestone, defending, said Taylor desperately needed to address how he dealt with conflict within relationships.
Judge Ian Unsworth KC jailed him for six months, noting his appalling criminal record. “It is absolutely clear that over a period of a month or thereabouts, the defendant subjected (the woman) to behaviour which was clearly criminal in its nature,” said the judge. “This was abusive behaviour committed, as it was, against a background of a domestic relationship.”
Taylor was banned from contacting the woman and a number of other named individuals for five years.
