Sutton man tormented ex-partner with campaign of stalking

Robert Carlin bombarded the woman with texts, anonymous phone calls and emails in the summer of 2019 – forcing her to vary her routine, consider moving away and make 13 complaints to police.

"I simply don't know why this man was not arrested at a much earlier stage," said prosecutor Stuart Lody. "This lady has been put through torment because of the way this case has dragged out.

"It seems he finds it impossible to let go and then takes out his anger and upset by harming women who he has had relations with."

Carlin used different email accounts with names like ‘stab2000’ to contact her and demanded £300 he had spent repairing damage he caused.

He left abusive posts alleging sexual impropriety on her employer's Facebook page and made 32 anonymous calls, accusing her of ‘being evil’.

"Why can't you just die?" he told her, and her parents, when he met them by chance in Sutton.

Ranting on Instagram, he called her ‘a homewrecker’, ‘a liar’, ‘a vile person’ and warned: "Wait until the fireworks go up."

Nottingham Crown Court heard their relationship ended in October 2018 because of his ‘jealous behaviour’.

She agreed to meet him in the spring of 2019, but ‘unfortunately that was the trigger for him to become obsessive and jealous’.

He was jailed for harassment in 2001 and 2012, and was subject to a suspended sentence at the time.

Ben Robinson, mitigating, said Carlin has post traumatic stress disorder after ‘having seen some awful things in Iraq and Afghanistan’ and now takes medication.

After the relationship ‘ended badly’ Carlin's ‘mental health took a huge dip’, and in August 2019 he took an overdose and was admitted to hospital.

"He is now engaging with Project Nova for veterans," Mr Robinson said. "He seems far more stable now than he was in 2019.”

Carlin, 40, of Kirkby Road, Sutton, was convicted of harassment and breaching a restraining order on October 19, 2020.

On Friday, Judge Shaun Smith QC demanded an enquiry into why the woman had to make 13 complaints before action was taken.

He jailed Carlin for 16 months.

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