Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Rejected lover sent ex ‘vile’ card
A rejected lover used Moonpig to send his ex-girlfriend a “vile” card calling her nasty names and punched her in the face after they broke up. Angry Richard Bottone, from Margate, also bombarded the woman with texts and calls and threatened her.
But the 31-year-old was spared a jail sentence when he appeared in court.
Bottone went on the Moonpig website to make a personalised card in which he called his former partner derogatory names to “deliberately upset her”. In a victim impact statement, the woman said: “The card made me change.
“He focused on my insecurities and made me feel worthless. “I feel it’s changed me. I have to look over my shoulder. “He made me feel scared and broken.”
On one occasion, Bottone turned up at her home in Canterbury, knocked on her door and pleaded with her dad to get her so he could talk to her. Her father agreed and brought her to the door.
But just minutes after he left them talking, he heard his daughter scream for help after she had been punched in the face, leaving her with a fat lip. Bottone had been in a rela
tionship with the woman for five months.
But when it ended in May last year he became angry and she soon started receiving threatening calls and messages from him.
The woman had to block him
from contacting her.
He then sent the “absolutely vile” Moonpig card.
After breaking up with him, the woman rekindled a relationship with an old boyfriend. When Bottone, of Alma Road, got a message from the man telling
him to stay away from the woman, he also started to abuse him in May 2022.
In one day he made 20 calls to the man’s phone and also sent 80 messages, including some with threatening comments. Bottone was arrested and later charged with harassment to put someone in fear of violence, assault by beating and harassment without violence. He admitted the charges at Margate Magistrates’ Court in October and a pre-sentencing report was ordered to be carried out on him by probation. He appeared at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on February 15 to be sentenced.
The court heard the incidents had left the woman frightened and distressed. Chelsea Clarke, prosecuting, said the victim had been so affected by Bottone’s harassment she had moved bedrooms from a downstairs room to an upstairs one in her home. Ms Clarke added: “The incidents frightened her and caused her a lot of distress.
“She didn’t feel safe.”
The court heard he punched his ex in the mouth on May 20. Between May 9 and May 24 he harassed her and put her in fear of violence.
District Judge Justin Barron also heard he made calls and sent the numerous messages to her new boyfriend between May 19 and May 21, some of which contained threatening content. He was told Bottone now had genuine remorse, regrets his behaviour and dealt with the situation poorly when the relationship came to an end. He also heard the defendant had a limited criminal record, but had no previous convictions similar to these offences. The judge said: “This really was nasty.
“I’ve seen the card and it is absolutely vile - you ordered it off Moonpig to deliberately upset her.
“You also lost your temper when you punched her in the face, giving her a fat lip. “She was frightened of what you might do [next]. “Then her boyfriend sent you a text and you bombarded him with 80 messages and 20 calls. It was a loss of all sense of proportion.”
Judge Barron jailed Bottone for 36 weeks but suspended the term for 18 months.
He was also ordered to carry out 20 rehabilitation sessions with probation and must attend a thinking skills programme. The judge also ordered Bottone to pay the woman £500 in compensation and her new boyfriend £100.
He will have to pay a victim surcharge of £156 and £85 in court costs.
The defendant was ordered not to go near the woman or her new partner for three years.