A stalker has been locked up after he was snared by his atrocious spelling. Gary Young, who had a previous jail sentence suspended, broke a stalking protection order (SPO) by messaging his victim on social media.
After the woman complained, police interviewed the 48-year-old and tested his spelling. The sender, using a fake account with a woman’s name, referred to the county of Somerset in messages – but spelled it ‘Summerset’.
Interviewing officers asked the convicted flasher, from cathedral city Canterbury, Kent, for his spelling of the county which made it obvious he was the sender.
Young was jailed for one year after admitting two breaches of the SPO and triggering his suspended sentence of 54 weeks in custody.
A sentencing hearing at Canterbury Crown Court heard an interim stalking order in respect of Young’s ex-girlfriend was imposed in April last year and prohibited him from having any contact with her.
This was replaced by a full, five-year order in October. Prosecutor Craig Evans told the court that after downloading several apps to a new phone, the woman received two messages from Young on Facebook Messenger.
They had been sent four days earlier and read, ‘Are you OK?’ and ‘I’m happy for you well done’.
The woman immediately blocked Young, but less than a month later she discovered further messages in her spam folder on the app.
Although the messages were sent from the account of someone called Mary Montgomery, the woman recognised her ex as the author due to his distinctive grammar and writing style, which included names and phrases such as ‘pickle cottage’ and ‘Mr Chips’.
One message, in which Young presumably refers to himself, read: “Please don’t get Mr Chips into trouble. Mr Chips says he is normal and made a massive error in his life. Mr Chips has a good heart.”
Young was arrested but initially denied contacting his former partner to officers.
“He was shown the screenshot of the messages on August 5 and said he did not recall sending the messages but accepted that they came from his account,” Mr Evans explained. “He admitted having problems with alcohol and that he was receiving help for it. He accepted that he probably had sent the messages when drunk. He said it was a mistake.”
However, he was eventually rumbled after police matched his spelling of a rural southwestern county. Having denied responsibility for the Mary Montgomery account, police cheekily decided to check Young’s spelling.
“He was asked how he spelled ‘Somerset’,” Mr Evans continued. “He spelled it incorrectly and in the same way as the messages.
“He then admitted that he had likely sent the messages on his aunt’s phone and must have been drunk when he sent them.
“At the end of the interview, the defendant stated that he didn’t send the messages to be mean, that he did wish the victim all the best, and that he wanted to move on with his life.”
Nine years ago, Young was convicted of bombarding another woman with sexually explicit phone calls. He had persistently plagued his previous victim after visiting her house to give her a quote for a carpet cleaning job – but was again rumbled when she recognised him in messages she received from the phrases he used.
After being caught out this time round, Young admitted to two breaches of the SPO and, as a consequence, being in breach of the sentence of 54 weeks’ custody, suspended for two years. In an impact statement read to the court, his ex-partner described how her privacy had been invaded to the point where she had installed cameras at her home as a result of Young’s actions.
“This whole incident has had a massive impact on me,” the woman wrote. “I find that I am much more nervous and emotional than I used to be. I feel that before all of this I was quite outgoing, but now I feel uncomfortable even living in my own home.
“I have had to put cameras up at my house and feel that my privacy has been seriously invaded because of him. I have had to go through this once before with Gary, and I feel that this is now bringing up the past and it makes me really upset to have to go through this all over again.
“I just want to move on with my life and to be able to live normally, but I feel that he keeps me from doing this and it is having a profound effect on my mental health. I don’t think he realises how much of an effect on me he is really having.”
Defending Young, Oliver Kirk said that his client had been making good progress in addressing his problems with alcohol until this latest incident, but was now ‘back at square one’.
“It’s a matter he deeply and bitterly regrets,” Mr Kirk said. “He feels he has let himself down and knows he only has himself to blame.”
Mr Kirk added that Young’s daughter had recently tragically died, the consequences of which he would now be forced to deal with in custody. Having breached his suspended sentence, imposed in March last year for three offences of exposure, Judge Simon James jailed Young for 12 months, telling him his history of ignoring court orders meant immediate imprisonment could not be avoided.
Judge James said: “Having been made subject to an interim stalking protection order, you contacted your ex-partner on a number of occasions via Facebook messenger, latterly using an alias account to do so.
“Although the messages were not threatening, they were sent in direct and blatant breach of a court order and placed you in breach of a suspended sentence order.
“Understandably, your continued conduct has had a marked and unsettling impact on your former partner.”
