Angry Leeds man stalked ex after she began gay relationship

Leeds Crown Court heard that Michael Turp sent letters and gifts, would follow her around and leave notes on her vehicle after she ended their 30-year relationship.

The unwanted attention took place over the period of a year, prosecutor Susannah Proctor said.

The pair had three children together but when they met for a drink at the Dry Dock pub in Leeds city centre in August 2019, she told him it was over.

Ms Proctor said Turp, who lived at Lucas Place, Woodhouse at the time, had tried to persuade her to return to him, but became angry when he found out she was involved in a same-sex relationship.

She said: “He said she had been brainwashed. Some letters he sent were loving but many were unpleasant and angry, insulting her about her sexuality.

"He said she had broken up the family and her children would not want to see her.”

He told her she was “sick in the head” and called the couple “dirty”.

The court heard that he cut up her underwear and even took a photo of a blow-up doll wearing her clothes.

He also sent her a list of sexually transmitted infections associated with gay females and told her to get tested.

When he was finally arrested, he admitted to police what he had done but said he was drinking heavily at the time.

He admitted charge of stalking, but the complainant made it clear she did not want him jailed.

Mitigating, Michael Morley said: “The tragedy of this case is a man who simply been unable to deal with the breakdown of his 30-year relationship.”

He said Turp became depressed and was put on anti-depressants, but “did not give them time to bed in”, and stopped taking them, opting to self medicate with alcohol.

He said that Turp, now of St Clements Court, Ackworth, is back on prescribed medication.

Judge Simon Batiste gave him eight months’ jail, suspended for 12 months, and 100 hours of unpaid work.

He warned him: “I hope you can get on with your life. You have got to understand that the relationship is over.”