A Carlisle father who sent his estranged daughter a letter which falsely stated that her mother had died has been sentenced by magistrates.
John Curtis, 71, was brought to court following a course of criminal conduct which he committed around the turn of this year.
Prosecutor Lee Dacre told city magistrates today the complainant in the case was Curtis’ daughter. Their relationship was described as estranged with the pair having not seen one another for several years.
Between December 14, 2022, and January 31 this year, Curtis engaged in a course of harassment. It started with him sending her a letter.
“In that letter he told her her mother had passed away which obviously caused her great anxiety,” said Mr Dacre. “That was untrue.”
On December 28 and January 3, Curtis sent the woman two emails to a work address stating that her mother wasn’t dead, and made other “hurtful comments”.
He was interviewed by police in late January but thereafter twice went to her place of work, staring though a shop window and causing distress.
The woman had since made three statements detailing the impact of Curtis’s harassment, calling the letter and emails “grossly offensive”.
“I don’t know why he is doing this to me,” added the woman. “He has a history of violence. This has caused me to fit CCTV to my property.”
In a third statement, the woman said of Curtis: “I don’t want him to be anywhere near me. I feel sick.”
Curtis, of Myddleton Street, Carlisle, admitted harassment without violence. A comprehensive pre-sentence report prepared by a probation officer who had spoken with him outlined why he had acted in the way he did.
“It is an unhappy non-relationship between father and daughter,” said defence lawyer, Duncan Campbell. “Perhaps more to it than is contained in the (pre-sentence) report; more to it than any person is willing to say.
“Clearly a difficult time for all involved.”
Magistrates imposed a 12-month community order. Curtis — previously known as William Adams — must complete rehabilitation work with the probation service, and was fined £80.
Curtis was banned from contacting the woman in any way — and also visiting or approaching two addresses — for five years under the terms of a restraining order which lead magistrate Jeff Forster concluded was “necessary and proportionate”.
