Craig Robertson, 23, is pictured leaving Manchester Magistrates’ Court yesterday
A jilted boyfriend who flooded his ex with menacing Facebook messages and threatened to share intimate photos of her has been spared jail.
Craig Robertson, 23, of Swinton, Greater Manchester, begged Stephanie Smith to get back with him and demanded for two weeks to know why they split up, saying: ‘It’s not fair, I miss you so much’.
Robertson also pleaded: ‘How do you get to treat people this way? Why are you doing this f***ing s*** to me? I did everything you ever asked of me.’
When Miss Smith failed to respond, he posted further messages calling his ex-partner a ‘f***ing ignorant w***e’ and a ‘sly bully’ on her social media page.
Police were called in when he sent Miss Smith a picture he had of her sat on his bed in her bra and jeans and then an intimate image with a message reading ‘everybody will see your dirty a**e’.
She later described the messages between August 15 and 31 last year as a ‘torrent’ and said she was fearful the pictures would be circulated online.
At Manchester Magistrates’ Court, Robertson, who had no previous convictions, faced up to six months jail after he admitted harassment without violence.
Robertson had faced up to six months jail after he admitted harassment without violence
But the warehouse worker walked free after claiming he did not realise his behaviour was criminal.
He was banned from contacting Miss Smith for a year in a restraining order. The court heard the couple had been dating for a year but split up in October 2016.
Stephanie Varle, prosecuting, said: ‘The victim decided she had had enough and when they had initially split up, she had tried to remain friends with him.
‘But this didn’t work out so she decided she wanted no contact from him due to the mass of messages she was receiving.
‘An example of the messages he sent included: ‘It’s not fair, I miss you so f***ing much’, ‘how do you get to treat people this way’, ‘why are you doing this f***ing s*** to me, I did everything you ever asked of me’.
‘He then repeatedly contacted her from different Facebook accounts. He sent her photographs of her to herself. In one of the images she was wearing a bra and jeans and she was sat up on his bed.
‘Another was a video and he sent these images to her alongside a number of messages and she was very very anxious. He called her a number of names including: ‘f***ing w***e’, ‘f***ing sly bully, ignorant w***e’.
The warehouse worker walked free after claiming he did not realise his behaviour was criminal
‘She became concerned about the other images he may have had of her and was worried about what he might do with them.
‘Alongside one image, he sent her the message: ‘everybody will see your dirty a**e!’ She was most upset and concerned about the photographs. He didn’t threaten to share them but she assumed he would distribute them on the internet.
‘She was so worried that she changed her phone number and set up new social media accounts.
‘The Facebook messages began on August 15, 2017 and continued to August 31 when she began receiving more than what she had already received. This was when she began receiving messages from him on multiple accounts.
‘She described it as a ‘torrent’ of messages. The messages could sometimes be melancholy and depressive or they could be angry and aggressive, swearing at her, calling her names and writing in capital letters.
‘She explained in her victim personal statement that she didn’t want to punish him and didn’t mean for this to come to court, but she didn’t want those pictures he had of her to go anywhere.’
Jonathan Conder, defending, said: ‘He is a young man with no previous convictions. Up until today, he was not sure why he was facing custody but I believe he is now aware that due to the pictures, this was very serious indeed.
Robertson lives with his parents and suffers from depression, for which he takes medication
‘When the relationship broke down he was traumatised. He did speak to her in August. There were unpleasant things said, which often happens at the end of a relationship.
‘When relationships break down it can be difficult for people to accept they are committing a criminal offence. I believe he found it difficult to understand this serious criminal nature is harassment.
‘He accepts he said those comments to her. He has struggled to get over this, but he doesn’t want to reconcile with her. He works full time for long hours.
‘He gets up at 4am to go to work for 5am. He is moving on with his life. He doesn’t want to contact her. She never wanted it to get this far.’
A probation report about Robertson read: ‘He accepts this was out of character for him. He understands his behaviour and why he did it. At the time he was unaware his behaviour constituted at harassment. He never intending to harass her.
‘He resides with his parents and works full time as a warehouse operative. He has plenty of support at home. He does suffer with depression and is now on medication to help with this. He now understands the impact of his behaviour on her.’
Robertson was sentenced to a 12-month community order and ordered to complete 150 hours unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £385 costs.