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trying to access her account from an unusual location.
As Smith’s revenge frenzy grew he had also reported serious incidents to Kent Police, including stalking and harassment, and had a panic alarm installed in the home he shared with his parents in Rochester, claiming he felt “intimidated”.
He told police colleagues he’d fought off intruders armed with a knife and baseball bat and installed CCTV. But after Charlotte and her parents proved they couldn’t have sent the messages, police looked at Smith’s CCTV footage for the time of the armed gang attack.
There was no evidence on it. After Smith was finally arrested, Charlotte says: “The police called me. I was in shock but also felt this huge relief that he had been found out. I couldn’t stop crying.”
At Maidstone Crown Court in November, Smith denied six charges of perverting the course of justice, one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one of gaining unauthorised access to a computer with intent to commit an offence.
Charlotte testified from behind a screen. She says: “I didn’t want to give him the gratification of seeing me upset.”
He was found guilty on all counts. Jailing him earlier this month, Judge Martin Huseyin said he was a highly self-centred attention seeker who engaged in a really wicked and vengeful campaign of harassment.
DANGER
He said: “You were indulging in a fantasy with yourself as the victim. You are a controlling and manipulative individual.”
He said Smith’s behaviour had not only wasted police time but also terrorised his own family into fearing their son was in danger and their home was under siege.
Smith was also given a life restraining order banning him from contacting Charlotte or Natalie
Poundall. Charlotte says: “It was the most traumatising thing that has ever happened to me.
“I have never committed a crime and should not know what it is like to be in a cell. Yet because of Tristian I sat there feeling isolated, scared and dehumanised.
“The fact he would try to destroy my reputation by getting me sent to prison is sick.
“The masked men, the amount of times claiming that he had pressed his panic alarm, installing CCTV – it’s ridiculous.
“It is a relief to clear my name and for people to know what he is. Knowing everyone had thought I was capable of those things sickened me. I received a lot of messages of apology after the trial.”
Now with a new partner, Charlotte says: “He is the complete opposite of Tristian. I want other women to be aware that domestic abuse isn’t just physical.”