SUGAR DADDY STALKER
BUT JUDGE TELLS DUMPED BUSINESSMAN WHO PLAGUED HIS EX: YOU FELT USED
A BUSINESSMAN, who lavished money on his girlfriend then stalked her when she dumped him, has been spared jail – after a judge said he ‘no doubt felt used’.
Wealthy Stephen Wall, 50, lent Sherry Ashby £160,000 to launch a boutique cafe, gave her a £33,000 Land Rover Discovery and a £2,000-a-month allowance.
But weeks after Ms Ashby, 46, ended their three-and-a-half year relationship he began a hate campaign that left her ‘living in fear’ and on anti-depressants, a court heard.
He repeatedly drove past her Botanic’s cafe and deli in Warwick, plagued her
on WhatsApp, sent people to repossess the car, and once confronted her in it.
Graeme Simpson, prosecuting, said: ‘Because of a tailback, they ended up alongside each other and he pointedly tore up £50 notes and threw them from his car as a gesture to her.’
Wall – said to be ‘exasperated and at times indignant after what he had done for her’ – admitted stalking and two charges of breaching a non-molestation order.
But Recorder Balraj Bhatia QC told him: ‘I accept you are of positive good character, decent, caring and well-respected and running a very successful business.
‘It seems it was quite an intense relationship. You gave freely of your time and your affection, and you reflected your commitment to Ms Ashby by investing a significant amount of money so she could realise her ambition. That gives you no greater right in terms of expectations or returns from your partner, but it gives an explanation for why you behaved as out of character as you did. You no doubt felt used.’
Wall received a 12-month community order at Warwick crown court.