Stalker who harassed Leeds ex for a decade chillingly told her: 'You are f****** mine'
A stalker who carried out a decade-long campaign against his former partner, despite being engaged to another woman, has been jailed.
Joshua Maynard-Williams spent years sending messages to the woman over social media, would later visit her mother’s home and his ex’s place of work.
The 27-year-old has five previous convictions dating back to 2015 - all of which involve violence and other offences against the woman.
Leeds Crown Court heard that the pair had met at college and started their relationship in 2015.
Despite being jailed for his refusal to let her go in the past, he continued to message her on Facebook throughout August and September of this year.
He sent heart emojis daily, which she deleted. He then began sending messages telling her: “I really miss you”.
But at the end of September his tone shifted, and he wrote: “You are mine.”
Two days later he said: “You are f****** mine. You can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Maynard-Williams, of Lawrence Crescent, Gipton, also sent messages on LinkedIn, telling her: “I just love looking at you and seeing your face.” He would also comment on her photos.
He left gifts at her mother’s home and even went into her place of work and bizarrely left two lit tealight candles.
After he was arrested he confessed to police during his interview that he was fixated on the woman and that he had set up the fake Facebook profiles to contact her.
He admitted a charge of stalking while causing serious alarm or distress. He was held on remand at HMP Doncaster from where he appeared over a video link today.
Mitigating, Timothy Jacobs said Maynard-Williams’ fiance continues to stand by him, despite his conduct.
He said his family are also concerned about him and added: “He needs to stop this behaviour and wants to do this the best way possible.”
Judge Mushtaq Khokhar told Maynard-Williams: “Given the history of this matter, and the fact you have constantly carried on harassing her, I can have no faith that all of a sudden this would come to an end if you were made subject to a community order.
“Frankly, there are no mitigating factors.”
He jailed him for 30 months and gave him an indefinite-length restraining order to keep him away from his former partner.