Stalker torched his car after ex refused to answer door
‘Heputs onthis persona toothers’
ANDREA LAMBROU
A domestic abuse survivor whose wicked ex tried to bin her prosthetic ear, says she has been let down by the authorities following his sentence.
Barry Palmer admitted causing fear or alarm by bombarding his victim with 1400 unwanted messages over the course of four months.
Palmer was due to stand trial for a stalking campaign at Hamilton Sheriff Court on Thursday, but finally admitted his guilt just moments before the case was heard.
The delivery driver was handed a two year non-harassment order and was given a chance to change his ways by Sheriff Moira Mackenzie who deferred sentence for three months for good behaviour.
But his 32-year-old victim – who does not wish to be named – says this does not go far enough, adding: “My life will never be the same, yet he’s got away with it.”
The mother-of-one told the News how Palmer’s sick obsession with her culminated in a blazing inferno at the East Kilbride home she shares with her teenage son.
She claimed that, as well as bombarding her with texts and phone calls from December to March this year, Palmer torched his own car outside her house because she would not let him in the house.
She alleged: “This is unjustified because, as much as I’ve got the non-harassment order, nothing else is being done to him – he’s got away with it.
“The obsession is still there. He called me while he was out on bail and he’s still contacting my son by sending him cards, and I know it’s not through affection, it’s to get to me.”
Palmer’s violent and erratic behaviour left his victim feeling isolated and alone. The community support worker was too afraid to leave her house and struggled to sleep at night.
She added: “It just totally drained me.
“I was a bag of nerves, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat – even just having a conversation, my body would be shaking head to toe.
“At the time I couldn’t work, I couldn’t function day-to-day. He isolated me from my friends and family and belittled me. I wear a prosthetic and he would try and put it in the bin – that’s how low he would go.”
Originally from East Kilbride, Palmer, a dad-of-two, started working with Phoenix Healthcare in East Kilbride in April.
Now living in Hamilton, he has one previous conviction for domestic abuse.
The 32-year-old’s victim claims the final straw came when he endangered her son and neighbours’ lives’ by torching his car in the middle of the night.
She alleged: “When he set fire to his car I thought that’s not just me he’s putting in danger, he’s putting other people and their possessions in danger.
“We’d had another argument and I told him to go because my son was in bed for school.
“He left, came back and chapped the door and because I never answered, he set fire to his car.
“We were in our beds and the next minute it was like an inferno. It was right outside between other cars and the horn was going off. That put the frighteners in me.
“It was horrible, I still have nightmares about it. Even now I don’t know what he’s capable of.” During their toxic year-anda-half relationship, Palmer’s victim said the pair constantly argued due to his controlling behaviour.
She told us how his controlling side came out when she would talk to other people.
His 32-year-old victim said how – if she was texting – he would grab the phone from her, pin her to the bed and grab her by the throat so he could see what she was saying.
She added: “I went to a dance night in Edinburgh with about 5000 people there and he was chucked out by security because he was dragging me across the dancefloor by the throat.
“It was like a path of destruction when it came to anything he didn’t agree with. I tried more than once to end the relationship and that’s when the problems began.
“I had to get the help from the police domestic abuse unit and friends. But he didn’t stop. He’d play mind games and phone and text me every day.
“He puts on a persona to other people, but they need to know the truth. There’s a big part of my life I can’t get back. Mentally and emotionally that will be with me for a very long time, there’s no closure there.
“He might not be anywhere near my property now but me and my neighbours can’t forget what he put me through.
“I want people to know who this guy really is and I want him to know he can’t ruin my life or have control over me anymore.
“He sent 1400 messages over the course of three months after I split up with him – it was just non-stop. And it got worse when you added alcohol into the mix.
“If he couldn’t have me, nobody was to have me. Even now I’m still in limbo because he’s just so unpredictable – I’m worried for my son.”
He’s still contacting my son by sending him cards, and I know it’s not through any affection, it’s to get to me ...