‘Manipulative stalker left woman a wreck’
A stalker has been jailed for nearly six years for harassing a woman to breaking point, lying to police that she had been kidnapped and hacking into email accounts at a Scarborough hotel.
Timothy Millward’s array of “cruel” offences spanned more than two years and left the young woman an emotional wreck, York Crown Court heard.
Millward, a married father-of-three, took her out for drinks after a shift and managed to obtain her contact details and secrets about her turbulent past after topping up her drinks, said prosecutor Angus MacDonald.
Thus began a relentless stalking campaign which left the named victim so distressed, she quit her job and moved away to escape his attentions. When she returned to Scarborough in 2019 and met another man, Millward posted photos of her street on Facebook and pestered her on social media after setting up a new account under a false name, telling the victim there was someone who wanted to harm her new partner.
Millward told her that same person had also sent him messages from a bogus Facebook account threatening to kill him. The victim was so terrified she again made plans to leave Scarborough.
Millward went to Scarborough Police Station to show them the threatening messages he claimed he had received, but which he had actually sent to himself. He told them the victim had made allegations of harassment against him.
Millward later went into Eastfield Police Station and made a false report that she had been kidnapped.
In May 2019, the “horrified” victim was found in a youth hostel in Liverpool and
arrested on suspicion of faking her own kidnap. But the truth came out when Millward was caught on camera buying a SIM card and topping up his phone credit at a Tesco store in Scarborough.
Millward, of Redfield Way, Middle Deepdale, was finally arrested on December 19 when his home was searched.
He was charged with stalking and perverting the course of justice but denied the allegations. He was released on bail and found new employment at a second hotel in Scarborough in March last year, by which time he was also on Crown Court bail. Millward was sacked for his behaviour in August last year.
Millward was charged with securing unauthorised access to a computer program or data but denied the offence.
A trial had been listed for all matters, but he finally admitted all three offences and appeared for sentence via video link at the end of last month.
David Godfrey, mitigating, said Millward had been drinking heavily and taking drugs at the time of the offences and was “in something of a downward spiral”.
Judge Simon Hickey said Millward was an “extremely manipulative” individual, jailing him for five years and 11 months and serving him with a lifetime restraining order banning him from contacting the victim or posting anything about her on social media.