OUTRAGE OF MUM
I feared for my life after my ex terrorised me for more than a year but a judge called him ‘caring’ and spared him jail
FRIGHTENED Sherry Ashby listened in stunned disbelief as a judge praised the man who waged a year-long stalking campaign against her as “decent and caring”.
She had been left fearing for her life after “ticking timebomb” Steve Wall, 50, refused to accept their relationship was over.
After an assault, followed by eerie messages and threats, Sherry had even taken to wearing a disguise.
But seeing Wall locked up would end her torment. Or so she hoped.
Sherry was astonished when a judge let him off with a restraining order, imposed a victim surcharge of £95 and sentenced Wall to 10 days of rehabilitation activity – aimed at preventing him reoffending.
Intense
And referring to the fact Wall had invested £160,000 in Sherry’s coffee shop, Recorder Balraj Bhatia QC told Wall: “You no doubt felt used.”
Wall admitted stalking and two charges of breaching a non-molestation order at Warwick crown court earlier this month. But Mr Bhatia told him: “I accept you are a man 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 affection and you reflected your commitment to Miss Ashby by investing a significant amount of money so she could realise her ambition.”
Experts have slammed the judge’s remarks.
And Sherry, 46, said: “I felt I was the one on trial.
“The judge emphasised the amount Steve invested in our business and spent on me, but that didn’t give him the right to treat me the way he did.
“The sentence was a joke after everything he put me through. I left the court feeling humiliated.”
Sherry and Wall, of Hampton-inarden, Warks, met on a dating site in 2016. They bonded over a love of the countryside and in 2017 Wall, who owns a turfing business, moved into the home Sherry shared with her daughter near Warwick.
His teenage son also lived with them. Sherry said: “I thought he was the love of my life. I paid the household bills and bought all the food while Steve paid for treats.
“He was very generous. He put me on a pedestal and showered me
Message said ‘it’s a matter of time’... I was
petrified
with gifts.” Sherry had dreamed of opening a boutique coffee shop and Wall offered to finance it. She said: “I had doubts but he was persuasive and eventually I agreed. With hindsight, it was a mistake. The business was my baby. I left my well-paid job to focus on it and Steve took over paying the household bills.”
The venue, named Botanics, opened in August 2019 and the couple made wedding plans.
But Wall’s behaviour changed. Sherry explained: “He grew jealous of the time I spent working. He was convinced I was having affairs but it was all in his head. He was like a ticking timebomb. I asked him to take time out to cool down but he wouldn’t leave me alone. I couldn’t live like that. I had to end it.”
Wall moved out in March 2020 but rejected Sherry’s offer to buy him out of the coffee shop.
She said: “He came to the house to discuss the business. We had a meal together and I thought we
He pulled up in car, tore up £50 notes and threw
them at me
were on a good path. But when he lost his temper, I asked him to leave and hid in bed.”
Sherry says he followed her upstairs and assaulted her. Wall was arrested and accepted a caution.
With the help of a domestic violence charity, Sherry got a non-molestation order preventing Wall going within 100 metres of her home or threatening violence. But she said that did not prevent his hate campaign which led to more than a dozen calls to police and was outlined in court.
She went on: “He changed his
Whatsapp profile picture over 106 times in four hours. The pictures included messages warning ‘It’s a matter of time’, ‘I’ll finish you’ and ‘if it’s my money, I have a right to judge’.
“One profile picture was taken at the bottom of my drive with the word ‘everywhere’ scratched across it.
“I was terrified. He was driving past the business, appearing in the street when I went to shops, parking his articulated lorry at the end of my drive.
“I had a list of crime numbers as long as my arm. One time, Steve pulled up alongside me in traffic, tearing up £50 notes and throwing them at me. He wanted to provoke me. He was laughing in my face. I was petrified and believed my life was in danger.”
Wreck
A man claiming to be a bailiff called to repossess Sherry’s car – but she recognised it was a relative of Steve.
She was so terrified she began driving a borrowed van, wore sunglasses and hid her hair under a baseball cap.
“I went from a strong, independent woman to a nervous wreck. I couldn’t be left alone. I suffered nightmares and barely slept for a year,” she said.
Wall was charged in January but Sherry was shaken by his sentence.
She said: “I don’t feel I’ve been protected. The justice system let me down. I felt domestic violence, stalking and harassment were trivialised. No woman should be treated this way.”
For three years, the Sunday People has been pushing for justice for stalking victims – including a register so offenders can be monitored. Top human rights lawyer Harriet Wistrich, director of the Centre for Women’s Justice, said of the judge: “It’s so hard to get cases to court and to get a comment like that is outrageous.”
Violet Alvarez, from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, said: “Community sentences should not be considered as an alternative to prison if the risk cannot be managed appropriately.”
Labour’s Jess Phillips, shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, said: “Myths and stereotypes get played out in courtrooms that are dangerous for women.
“Power and money are classic ways of coercing someone.”