Jealous Leeds ex fitted tracker to woman's car to 'catch her out'
A jealous man who threatened suicide unless he got back with his ex then fitted a tracker to her car to monitor her whereabouts.
Martin Stuart admitted stalking the woman and appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week.
It was heard that the couple had been in a relationship for 15 years and had children together, but in the last five years Stuart had developed an addiction to drugs and his behaviour deteriorated.
The court heard she wanted to leave him but was “afraid of repercussions”, prosecutor Victoria Ball said.
On November 5 last year she decided to separate from him and moved out of the home they shared.
Stuart was angry at the situation, accusing her of cheating and would call and message her demanding to know where she was.
He threatened to end his life unless she reconciled, Ms Ball said.
In January she received a call from one of his relatives, telling her that he had fitted a tracker on her vehicle.
On January 23 she had driven on the M62 across the Pennines, and later received a message from Stuart demanding she ring him.
When she called, he screamed at her demanding to know why she was in Manchester and threatened to stab her when she got back to Leeds.
He sent her an image of the location of her car.
The woman looked for the tracker but was unable to find it.
Three days later when she met him, she told him to stay away from her car, but he reached in and pulled a device from underneath the seat, telling her had had “caught her out”.
He was arrested the next day and the GPS tracker was seized.
Along with the stalking charge, he also admitted a charge of criminal damage after he damaged a wardrobe panel in the home they had shared.
Stuart, of St Augustines Court, Harehills, has no previous convictions.
Little mitigation was offered during the hearing when Judge Ray Singh said he would not pass a prison sentence after Stuart had already spent two weeks held on remand.
He told Stuart: “You behaved quite appallingly. You made her life very difficult.
“You placed a tracker in her vehicle. It must have been extremely frightening.”
He gave him a 12-month conditional discharge and a five-year restraining order.