Ballerina’s two-year domestic abuse hell at hands of ex-lover
A FORMER banker posed as his exballerina girlfriend to steal thousands of pounds while subjecting her to a campaign of cruelty lasting nearly two years.
Rugby coach Richard Meade, 38, followed dance teacher Siobhan Marshall and bombarded her with thousands of messages as he tried to control her life.
Meade was found guilty of domestic coercion and fraud after a trial at Perth Sheriff Court and had sentence deferred for reports when he appeared in the dock yesterday.
The trial was told Meade had falsely used the dance teacher’s details to spend £4,000 treating himself to mobile phones and other items online. Meade repeatedly turned up at Perth Theatre, Perth High School and other places at which his former lover worked and made malicious allegations about her to employers.
He claimed during the trial that items had been bought for him as gifts, but Sheriff Neil Bowie said this lacked credibility and found him guilty of domestic coercion.
Meade, of Perth, was found guilty of engaging in a course of behaviour towards Miss Marshall at various locations between April 1, 2019, and December 9 last year.
He was convicted of ‘regulating and controlling her contact with her family’ during incidents around Perth, Dundee and Crieff, and of turning up at places including Perth Theatre and Perth High School and ‘making malicious allegations about her’.
The sheriff found him guilty of repeatedly turning up uninvited at her workplaces, following her on numerous occasions and threatening to remove her son.
That charge also found that Meade had purchased goods on credit using her details and, in doing so, had accrued debts.
He was also convicted of fraud after opening an account in his former girlfriend’s name with online retailer Very and buying mobile phones and equipment on credit between October 2017 and July 2019.
Miss Marshall told the court the first she became aware of the online shopping account was when she received an invoice from the Liverpool-based company.
Giving evidence, Meade tried to play down his abusive campaign, but accepted claiming to her bosses at a gym in Perth that she did not pay tax.
Meade said he reported the PAYE allegation because the gym had refused to give him a refund for his membership. He told the court: ‘This was a great concern of mine because I was working in the financial industry.’
He also claimed a mobile phone seized by police when he was arrested was not bought by himself using her name but was a gift from his partner.
But Sheriff Bowie rejected his version of events and said: ‘This credit account was set up linked to Mr Meade’s telephone number, email address and bank account.
‘When arrested, Mr Meade was in possession of an iPhone linked to that account. The complainer was not aware of this account and the first she heard of it was when she received a letter telling her she owed a sum of money.
‘I have to say Mr Meade’s explanation for the credit account makes no sense to me at all.’
The trial heard Mr Meade’s former partner was left in tears after he showed up at the school and theatre where she carried out dance lessons.
A witness told the court that Meade sat in his parked car outside the school, and left Miss Marshall ‘significantly upset’ when he approached her at the theatre.
Meade was given a non-harassment order which prevents him from approaching or contacting his ex-partner for two years.
‘His explanation makes no sense’