Former Nottinghamshire soldier bombarded his ex with texts

David Richard Stoker sent the woman around 50 abusive text messages on January 13 last year, after the relationship folded, and more on February 22, 2020, Nottingham Magistrates’ Court heard on Tuesday, March 2.

The court heard that Stoker, currently of Mickledale Lane, Bilsthorpe, had been in the relationship with the woman for 10 years and they had a three-year-old child together.

But the 33-year-old had started drinking heavily to combat the PTSD, which he had developed following military service in Afghanistan.

In a separate incident incident, Stoker also stamped on the handset of a games console, which he was playing on at a friend’s house following an argument, said Daniel Pietryka, prosecuting.

“They’d had a child together and things had escalated since then,” he told the court. “She has been bombarded with text messages, and when he was interviewed by police, he accepted that he sent the messages and that they were on an abusive nature,”

Stoker admitted harassment and criminal damage when he appeared before the court.

Mitigating, Ian Carter said: “He had started to drink very extremely which had made her unhappy and she’d had an affair on the side - they were at war with each other. He accepts that he had pushed her away with his drinking, but he didn’t expect her to go and have an affair with another man.”

Magistrates gave Stoker a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay £170 costs, £49.99 in compensation and a £34 victim surcharge.

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