Former Leeds teacher stalked ex for more than three years with sexually-explicit emails
A persistent ex boyfriend stalked a woman for more than three years, sending almost 200 unanswered emails.
Former teacher Jay Atkinson avoided custody at Leeds Crown Court but was told by a judge that it “should have been obvious” the victim had no interest in him.
Atkinson admitted a charge of stalking that caused serious alarm or distress.
They had been in a relationship for several years, but after the break-up, he began to send emails.
He sent 190 emails over between March 2020 and October 2023, many of which included “crude” content and sexual suggestions.
He dropped hints that he would “look through her window” would “ perv” on her, and looked at her picture online.
He told her he had left teaching and became a recruitment officers for schools.
The victim did not reply to any of the messages, but she eventually contacted the police when he contacted her through work.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the woman said she was left on edge and anxious.
She added: “I have lived for years feeling frightened and on edge. No-one should have to live with this level of fear. It’s had a deep and lasting effect on me.”
Mitigating, Mark Foley said at the time, Atkinson was “blind” to the effects the emails were having on the woman.
He added: “He has reflected and accepts he ought to have known that these emails would not be welcome.”
He added that the married father-of-two now had “acute embarrassment” over the issue.
Mr Foley said Atkinson, of Haw Avenue, Yeadon, had not been before the courts before, was full of “regret and remorse” and had sought private counselling.
He had lost his job in recruitment when his pending court case came to light, and was now working in IT but on a much lower wage.
He said that had the woman replied and told him to stop sending the emails, he would have.
But Judge Penelope Belcher said that it was “obvious” she was not interested after the woman had originally blocked his phone number.
Judge Belcher told Atkinson: “Why on earth you think that she would be content to receive messages is quite frankly astonishing.”
She described some of his emails as “vile” and “absolutely horrible”.
She handed him a 20-month sentence, suspended for two years, ordered him to complete 30 rehabilitation days and 200 hours of unpaid work.
He was also given a five-year restraining order to keep him away from the woman.