Plenty of Fish pest plagued teacher with chocolates, f lowers... and a new vacuum
A TEACHER mourning the death of her father was hounded with unwanted gifts and messages by a man she met over the dating website Plenty of Fish.
Emma Murby, 45, had gone out with managing director Timothy Green and then briefly moved in with him.
But they split up and he then tried to win her back by bombarding her with flowers, chocolates – and even a new vacuum cleaner.
The 50-year-old also left scores of messages, including one on the day of her father’s funeral, and even posed as one of the motherof-two’s friends to send her a condolence card.
‘His behaviour made me feel distressed and I thought he was never going to stop contacting me,’ Miss Murby said in a statement.
‘I was worried his behaviour was going to escalate. I was going through a difficult time with the death of my father and his behaviour made my life more stressful.’
Green, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, admitted harassment and was banned from contacting his victim for two years by a restraining order. He had met Miss Murby, of Eldwick, West Yorkshire, online in April 2018 and they met in person later that month.
Prosecutor Mark Pritchard told Stockport magistrates court: ‘They had a long-distance relationship. They spent time together at weekends and sometimes met up in the week.
‘At this point, the complainant says it was a normal relationship and that she was happy. In August last year she moved in with him for a short period of time and their relationship became strained. She
‘I worried it was going to escalate’
moved back and after some time the relationship ended. That is when the defendant began his unrelenting course of harassment towards his victim. On 27 March, the victim told police she had broken up with the defendant but he continued to contact her. He continued to send flowers and leave voicemails asking her to call him.
‘She replied saying, “I am blocking your calls and voicemails, don’t call me again. Stop harassing me. Leave me alone, we are not together any more. Do not contact me anywhere”.
‘But he left her 63 messages in March, 28 in April, seven in May. He continued to send messages and cards from different accounts on Plenty of Fish, which all used the same photograph. Between 15 June and 20 June, he contacted a friend of the victim numerous times asking about her.’
In mitigation, Green’s lawyer Steven McHugh said that the father-of-two was ‘mortified’ and wished to ‘move on with his life’.
Green, a former golf club boss now running a firm offering safety inspections, was also ordered to complete a 12-month community order, do 80 hours of unpaid work and pay a £95 victim surcharge.