Jealous husband ‘who spied on his wife through smart house’ is jailed

Ross Cairns has been jailed for harassment after his ex-wife accused him of spying on her

A jealous husband whose estranged wife accused him of using ‘smart house’ technology to spy on her has been jailed for 11 months.

Electronics expert Ross Cairns, of Altrincham, Greater Manchester, logged into an Elan system in the former matrimonial home and allegedly listened into his wife’s telephone conversations.

Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard the 35-year-old used an App on his iPhone to access the system, which was designed to control heating, lighting and security systems at their £700,000 house in Hale.

The court heard the couple had been married for 16 years and had two daughters now aged five and three, but Cairns had started acting strangely after they split.

His wife believed he had been logging into an iPad mounted on the kitchen wall.

On one occasion, shortly after Mrs Cairns told her mother she no longer loved her husband, the father of two suddenly turned up unannounced on the doorstep and repeated the conversation she just had – adding: ‘Oh, you don’t love me any more,’ the court heard. 

Cairns was convicted of offences of stalking and harassment following incidents in which he made a ‘throat slitting’ gesture towards Mrs Cairns and spat at her car.

But the stalking conviction was later quashed after an appeal court judge said it could not be proved to a ‘criminal standard’ and that the evidence was ‘compromised’ due to the number of devices discussed.

Cairns is said to have logged into their security system after he and wife Catherine split

Cairns is said to have logged into their security system after he and wife Catherine split

The harassment offences were upheld and Cairns was jailed for 11 months after it emerged he was in breach of a suspended sentence imposed last year for fraud and theft.

Mrs Cairns, a 33-year old accountant, told the appeal hearing had seen messages from another man and phoned him making threats.

She added: ‘I spoke with my mum and told her that I didn’t love Ross anymore. After that conversation I got a text message from Ross saying something about me wanting to get one over on him.

‘He then came over straight away. I sent my mum a text message asking her to come back.

Mrs Cairns told a court her ex-husband repeated the words of a conversation she had with her mother back to her

Mrs Cairns told a court her ex-husband repeated the words of a conversation she had with her mother back to her

‘He walked in and said ‘Kids I’m moving back in’. He was being erratic. My mum came over and took the kids upstairs. He said he was moving back in with us and I said he couldn’t do that.

‘I rang his mum and then rang the police as he was being quite threatening and I felt threatened. He was being erratic.

‘The police asked him to leave and he did leave. He sent messages the next morning apologising but he had previously been repeating the conversation I had with my mum back to me about me not loving him anymore. I asked him how he overheard the conversation with my mum.

‘He said he overheard it on the laptop through the camera. I didn’t know he had done it but he was suspicious of me not being truthful.’

Mrs Cairns also claimed her ex hacked into her Bumble, dating agency account and changed her profile picture to one of her bottom in red knickers. His actions led to her contacting police.

Cairns denied wrongdoing claiming he accessed the system to change the lights or adjust the volumes on the TV but not use it to view into the house.

He was banned from contacting Mrs Cairns for three years under the terms of a restraining order.

 



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk