AN OBSESSION with his former partner’s daughter led a Rugby man to stalk her and send her texts making it clear he knew where she was and what she was wearing.
John Kelly also sent her abusive texts when she went out with other people, and collected pictures of her he had downloaded from her social media pages.
But Kelly, 58, of Dovedale Road, Rugby, escaped being jailed after a judge at Warwick Crown Court heard he had already spent the equivalent of a 14-month sentence on remand.
Instead Kelly, who had admitted charges of stalking and harassment, was given a 12-month sentence suspended for 18 months, with a rehabilitation requirement, and ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work.
Prosecutor Graeme Simpson said Kelly’s victim was the daughter of a former partner who he had split up with when the girl was 12 years old, but she had kept in touch with him.
In February she and a friend needed somewhere to stay, and Kelly put them up – but ‘from the start, he was controlling and possessive, and the only freedom she had was when she was at work.’
One evening he told her he wanted her to be ‘more than my daughter,’ at which she left the room.
The following evening she went out, and she received a series of abusive text messages from him, so the next day she moved out.
From text messages he then began sending her, she very quickly realised he was stalking her, that he knew where she was and what she was wearing.
And when she went to his home, she found a number of photographs of her that Kelly had printed from her Facebook account, so she challenged him about them and left.
The next day she carried out a Google search on Kelly, and discovered that in 2006 he had been jailed for three-and-a-half years for raping a woman at her home.
She sent him a text telling him to leave her alone, but he reacted by sending a number of abusive messages and leaving voicemails in which it was clear he was still stalking her.
The police were notified, and when he was arrested Kelly made full admissions, added Mr Simpson.
Nick Devine, defending, said: “He has done the equivalent of a 14-month sentence.
“It is evident from the pre-sentence report that he carries the burden of his previous conviction heavily.
“It’s a constant source of concern to him that people will find out, and when there was a threat to make public that previous conviction, he acted inappropriately.”
Sentencing Kelly, Recorder Michelle Heeley QC told him: “You have pleaded guilty to stalking and putting a person in fear by harassment.
“You were controlling and possessive, and even when she moved out, you couldn’t let go. This was a persistent action over a prolonged period.
“You have served, however, a 14-month sentence, and if I send you to prison today, you’ll come out with no supervision.”
