Portsmouth ex-boyfriend threatened to 'ruin' woman's life, turned up at her home and called 30 times
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Dad-of-one Paul Harrison, 36, stuck his foot in the door at his beleaguered former partner’s home in Gisors Road, Milton, as she refused to let him in.
Portsmouth Crown Court heard how Harrison had spent a drunken day sending her 18 WhatsApp messages and making 30 calls to the victim.
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Hide AdIn one message before he arrived, he said: ‘I will go to jail when they finally catch me but I'm going to ruin your entire life and everyone you know.
‘I’ll do whatever time I have to but you and (another person) will do the rest of your lives.’
At her home on the morning of December 20 last year, Harrison was ‘banging on the front door’ before the victim opened it and told him to ‘go away,’ prosecutor David Brock said.
But Harrison, of Sunningdale Road, Portchester, refused and instead jammed his foot in the door - with the victim struggling successfully to close it.
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Hide AdOutside the house he then called the woman, with whom he had been in a relationship with for several years, 30 times but she did not answer.
Harrison was previously handed a restraining order and community order in November last year for beating the victim and harassment.
Jailing Harrison for seven months, judge Roger Hetherington said: ‘It’s quite impossible to deal with this with anything other than by way of an immediate custodial sentence.
‘You have shown when given the opportunity, you scorn it, so the court isn’t prepared to take the chance of giving you a further opportunity.’
The judge said he should’ve known better.
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Hide AdAmy Oliver, for Harrison, said his threatening messages were sent with ‘the bravado’ of a man who had never been to prison. Since being remanded for more than two months he missed the death of his mother in January, she said.
Her client ‘consumed some alcohol’ and contacted the victim after being annoyed he was being ‘gossiped about’ in relation to the restraining order. He said he considered it ‘private information’.
Ms Oliver said: ‘He said he’s not an obsessive ex-boyfriend and doesn’t want to be one of those people now that he knows she doesn’t want contact.’
He has taken steps to address his misuse of alcohol, the court heard.
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Hide AdHarrison admitted, at the first opportunity, harassment, breaching a restraining order and failing to surrender after turning up to court late.
The time spent on remand means he will likely be released soon, the judge said.