The father of Gareth Pursehouse, charged with murdering former Playboy model and LA sex therapist Amie Harwick, had a restraining order against him at the same time as his son, court documents obtained by DailyMail.com reveal.
Harwick, 38, got a protective order against Pursehouse in 2011 after ending their relationship.
The legal protection expired just weeks before the 6’4” computer programmer allegedly attacked her at her Hollywood Hills home last Saturday, resulting in her death from a three-story fall from a balcony.
Just one year before Harwick sought legal protection from Pursehouse, his British-born father Paul was also the subject of a restraining order by his ex-fiancée Deborah Vail, California court records reveal.
Gareth Pursehouse (right) is charged with murdering Amie Harwick (left) after allegedly attacking her at her Hollywood Hills, California home last Saturday. Harwick, 38, got a protective order against Pursehouse in 2011 after ending their relationship
Pursehouse’s father Paul, who died last July, also had a restraining order taken out against him by his ex-fiancée Deborah Vail (pictured together). The 69-year-old San Diego-based real estate broker claimed that Paul had been ‘harassing me by phone, by email, in person, and through my friends’
Paul, who died eight months ago, was hit with a protective order filing in 2009 from Vail.
The 69-year-old San Diego-based real estate broker claimed that Paul had been ‘harassing me by phone, by email, in person, and through my friends’.
‘He has been showing up to about three of my community events per week for the past few weeks, in an attempt to see me and talk to me,’ Vail wrote to the court.
‘I have told him repeatedly that we are over and that I want nothing to do with him, yet he refuses to leave me alone, and his harassment and obsession with me seems to be escalating.
‘I have also gotten countless hang up calls, that I believe is Paul calling to harass me. Additionally, Paul is harassing my friends, including my friend Joanne, who sent me a warning email stating that she has repeatedly tried to tell him to leave me alone and remind him that things are over,’ Vail added.
‘She wrote that he could not stop talking about me and keeps hoping that there is a future for us and refuses to take no for an answer. She also warned me that ”he is absolutely obsessed” with me.’
Before splitting, the couple had lived together in Oceanside, south of Los Angeles. Residency records show Pursehouse later moved to an apartment in San Diego before his death in July last year.
Paul, whose MySpace account still shows a picture of him and Vail together, appealed the California court’s decision to place a three-year restraining order against him, but the appellate court unanimously upheld the ruling in 2010.
One year later, his son was subject to the same form of protective order after an acrimonious breakup with his sex therapist girlfriend Harwick.
A year after Paul’s restraining order against him was upheld, his son was subject to the same form of protective order after an acrimonious breakup with his sex therapist girlfriend Harwick. Pictured: The father and son out for a meal in an undated photo
Vail wrote that her friend warned her that Paul (pictured) was ‘absolutely obsessed’ with her. Paul, whose MySpace account still shows a picture of him and Vail together, appealed the California court’s decision to place a three-year restraining order against him, but the appellate court unanimously upheld the ruling in 2010
Friends told DailyMail.com that Harwick described Pursehouse as her ‘crazy ex’, while LA court records show she petitioned for a second restraining order in 2012, though the second order was dismissed after she did not follow up her application.
Despite losing his father last year, a long-time friend of Pursehouse said he was in high spirits when she saw him for the first time in about five years at a pornography industry awards party last month run by industry magazine XBIZ and hosted by porn legend and Donald Trump’s alleged mistress, Stormy Daniels.
Alana Evans, 43, President of Adult Performers Actors Guild, said she knew Pursehouse for years and had met him when he worked as a photographer in the porn industry, but that he had disappeared from the field without explanation about five years ago.
‘I’ve known Gareth for a very long time, when he was more involved in the industry in the mid-2000s. He was a photographer who was just around the business and at shows. He was super hyper, very friendly, a very big man,’ Evans told DailyMail.com.
‘When I saw him at XBIZ I hadn’t seen his face in years, I got up and talked to him. I caught his attention and he gave me a big hug.’
The guild president said her suspicions were raised when her old friend was cagey about his absence from the porn industry.
‘I asked where he had been and he was so vague with his answer. He said that he stepped away from the industry but now he was back. He didn’t give any more reason than that,’ she said.
‘He didn’t mention any issues with an ex or anything like that. It was like he didn’t want to answer why he had been absent from the scene. It sounds now as if it’s because he’s had this restraining order.’
A close friend of Harwick told DailyMail.com that the therapist, who until 2018 was engaged to The Price Is Right host and actor Drew Carey, was also at the January 16 party, due to her work for a charity providing mental health support to women in the sex industry.
A close friend of Harwick told DailyMail.com that the therapist, who until 2018 was engaged to The Price Is Right host and actor Drew Carey, was also at the January 16 party, due to her work for a charity providing mental health support to women in the sex industry. Harwick and Carey they split in November 2018 after dating for more than a year
Harwick was found unconscious after falling from a third-floor balcony in her home, pictured
The friend, 45-year-old actress Jasmin St Clare, claimed that Harwick’s restraining order against Pursehouse had recently expired, and that the therapist told her days after the party that when Pursehouse saw her there, he began screaming at her.
‘She had never mentioned him before,’ said St Clare. ‘He wasn’t like a Drew Carey where she’d mention him, or any of her other exes who were more significant.
‘The first I heard of him was that a psycho ex of hers started screaming at her at the XBiz awards.
‘I spoke to her a few days after that. She was just like ”yeah I saw my crazy ex there”, it was just an over-the-head thing. She doesn’t see the bad in people. But was she concerned? Yes.’
Even Evans said she heard the alleged altercation from another room at the party.
‘There was an argument. Someone was screaming at their other half, that was what people perceived of the argument. You could hear loud voices. But I’m not somebody who’s going to walk towards a problem,’ she said.
One month later, Harwick was at her Hollywood Hills home with her housemate when, according to police, Pursehouse attacked her in a violent struggle that ended with her falling three stories from a balcony. She later died in the hospital from her injuries.
The LA coroner ruled Tuesday that the 38-year-old former Playboy model died from blunt-force injuries to her head and torso, though they also noted ‘evidence of manual strangulation’.
Pursehouse said he was in high spirits when she saw him for the first time in about five years at a pornography industry awards party on January 16 run by industry magazine XBIZ and hosted by porn legend and Donald Trump’s alleged mistress, Stormy Daniels. The run-in is said to have reignited Pursehouse’s obsession with Harwick (pictured at the event)
Pursehouse pictured circled in red at the XBiz Awards, was working as a photographer and allegedly harassed Harwick. The porn star Stormy Daniels, pictured in the silver dress, hosted the event
Police say Harwick’s roommate jumped a wall to run for help while a ferocious fight raged inside the hilltop house.
Pursehouse was arrested at his Playa Del Rey home on Monday, released on a $2 million bail, but was re-arrested on Wednesday and formally charged with murder and burglary.
According to the LA District Attorney’s office, his charges include the special circumstance allegation of ‘lying in wait’, making him eligible for the death penalty.
The furious St Clare, who appeared in HBO show The Deuce, said she believes Pursehouse is responsible for her friend’s killing, and that the death penalty is too good for him.
‘He is a monster. He needs to feel the steel, to stay in jail and don’t come out. I say living in jail among people knowing what the hell you did is the best thing for him,’ she said.
‘Having to look over your shoulder every day and night, living that torture is the best punishment ever. The needle is too easy an out for him.’
St Clare and her friends have launched a petition proposing a new ‘Amie’s Law’, which would toughen restraining orders imposed by the courts to prevent domestic violence.
The proposed bill would abolish expiration dates on restraining orders, only lifting the protections when the victim feels safe.
Medical cannabis grower Travis Nestor who worked with Pursehouse (pictured) for two years and has known him for about 15 years, said his friend was ‘normal’ and ‘easygoing’, and had never shown signs of violence
The LA coroner ruled Tuesday that the 38-year-old former Playboy model died from blunt-force injuries to her head and torso, though they also noted ‘evidence of manual strangulation’
The campaigners also propose a public register of people who have restraining orders against them, similar to sex offender databases, and seek to remove the requirement for men or women seeking restraining orders to have to appear in court opposite their alleged abuser.
‘You could do it through a video conference and you just deal with the judge, you don’t have to see that person’s face, because it’s terrifying,’ St Clare explained.
‘It needs to be passed and it needs to be passed immediately, because there are a million other Amie’s out there and we don’t know about them because the police don’t take it seriously.
‘When you are a victim of such behavior you feel scared, and you don’t know if you have to pack up your life and go elsewhere.’
Despite the actress’ damning claims against Pursehouse, the computer programmer’s friends were shocked to hear he had been accused of any violence.
Medical cannabis grower Travis Nestor, 41, who worked with Pursehouse for two years and has known him for about 15 years, said his friend was ‘normal’ and ‘easygoing’, and had never shown signs of violence.
Nestor added that in one of their most recent conversations last year, the 41-year-old had boasted about dating an 18-year-old woman.
Evans said although Pursehouse ‘has a lot of energy’ and is ‘always amped up when he is talking’, he was ‘one of those people you would have never expected something like this.’