‘I’m going to make your life hell’ – inmate
A Sunderland woman was bombarded with up to eight letters per day when she broke up with her boyfriend who was serving a sentence behind bars.
Anthony Whittle penned a total of 312 pages, posted in 76 separate letters, from his cell at Durham jail after his girlfriend dumped him by post when he was locked up for violence.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the victim ignored his jail ramblings and calls, which included a voice mail message threatening to break her jaw, along with the warning “if you won’t speak to me you won’t speak to no one”.
The 30-year-old had also warned “when I get out of prison I’m going to make your life ******* hell”.
Whittle, of no fixed address, admitted putting a person in fear of violence with the harassment campaign between July and October last year.
He confessed that he had heard rumours that the woman had started seeing someone else, which was “driving him mad” and sparked his bad behaviour.
Prosecutor Rachel Masters told the court that Whittle had been in a relationship with his victim, who lived on Wearside, for five years and had served a six-month prison sentence for attacking her in 2013.
Despite him having a restraining order which meant he should stay away from her, the couple reunited after he was released.
In April last year Whittle was locked up again, this time for 18 months for assaulting someone else and his girlfriend broke up with him “by letter”.
Miss Masters told the court: “The defendant responded with letters and phone calls, of which there were numerous.”
The court heard that the phone calls came so often that the woman got to the point where she let the answering machine pick up.
Miss Masters added: “The letters became more frequent. She describes on one day there were eight letters in a single day.”
The court heard the couple have since “patched up” their relationship and the victim no longer supported the prosecution.
Whittle had been released from the jail term after the harassment campaign, but has since been recalled over a breach of curfew.
Alec Burns, defending, said Whittle has made efforts to improve himself while serving his sentence and realises how wrong his behaviour was.
Judge Tim Gittins jailed Whittle, of no fixed address, who has 50 previous offences on his record, for four months.
“If you won’t speak to me, you won’t speak to no one”
ANTHONY WHITTLE