A husband who swapped his wife’s bed for a dog cage and sent threatening messages to her during a period of controlling conduct has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Kostas Fragoulis, now 46, was punished by magistrates in Carlisle today for illegal activity which occurred during the course of 15 months in both 2019 and 2020.
The court heard Fragoulis used violent and intimidating behaviour by shouting and controlling his soon to be ex-wife’s activities.
He sent threatening messages and piled her personal possessions in the garden during wet weather.
George Shelley, prosecuting, also told how the woman returned home in March 2020, having learned told that Fragoulis had moved her own bed. In its place he had put a mattress on top of a dog cage.
In a separate incident, Fragoulis had got full in the face of a man who had called at the house.
He denied charges of controlling or coercive behaviour towards the woman and assaulting the man by beating but failed to attend his trial.
He was convicted of the two charges but then was at large for around two-and-a-half years. He had returned to Greece, the court heard to care for his parents and run a family business.
Facing the music this morning, Fragoulis was said by his lawyer, Chris Toms, to have acted unlawfully amid problems in a marriage that was heading for divorce. He had committed no offences before or since.
A 20-week jail term was suspended for two years. Fragoulis, of Beaumont, near Carlisle, must complete rehabilitation work with the probation service and also a building better relationships programme.
In addition he was banned from having any contact with the woman for two years.
Lead magistrate Alan Cottingham told Fragoulis: “No one should have to put up with what your future ex-wife had to put up with. These are, trust me, very serious offences. They are going to be dealt with in a very serious way.”
