Brett met his victim Philomena Willets at Leeds University in 1995 and they began a relationship which she ended after less than six months.
One of Britain’s worst ever stalkers has finally been jailed after a 12-year campaign of fear.
David Brett, 43, poured paint stripper on mother-of-one Philomena Willets’ car and hacked into her husband’s emails to send messages to friends and neighbours accusing the couple of being paedophiles.
He was given a restraining order at Leeds Magistrates Court in December 2005 after developing an obsession with his old university flame following a chance meeting in 2004.
But he continued to harass Mrs Willets, her husband and extended family, and yesterday pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching a restraining order, two of stalking and one count of assault by beating after he kicked out at an officer during his arrest in April 2016.
Sentencing him to 41 months in prison, Judge Martyn Barklem said: ‘It is hard to think of a more serious example of a long-term stalking dedicated to making the lives of two people who have done nothing wrong as miserable as possible.’
Brett met his victim at Leeds University in 1995 and they began a relationship which Mrs Willets ended after less than six months.
He moved abroad but bumped into Mrs Willets in Leeds city centre in 2004 and his sinister campaign of harassment began.
In 2009 Brett tried to contact his victim again, and shortly before Valentine’s Day 2012 he sent flowers to the house with a card congratulating her on the birth of her daughter
‘He formed an infatuation which became an obsession which persisted for several years,’ Christopher Carey, prosecuting, told the court.
Following their chance meeting Brett threw stones at Mrs Willets’ mother’s home, poured paint thinner on her car and would threaten any man who visited the house.
A restraining order was granted at Leeds Magistrates Court on December 16, 2005.
In 2009 Brett tried to contact his victim again by phoning her mother, and shortly before Valentine’s Day 2012 he sent flowers to the house with a card congratulating her on the birth of her daughter. He also contacted her family and in-laws repeatedly.
‘This behaviour caused Mrs Willets to go to ground for two years; she did her best to disappear,’ Mr Carey said.
When Mrs Willets started a business in 2014, Brett bombarded the company with messages and repeatedly rang up trying to speak with her. The following year he was able to infiltrate email accounts belonging to the victim and her husband.
Mr Carey said: ‘He sent messages to and from the company saying she was a sex offender and paedophile. In the same period he pursued her husband and sent obnoxious emails to him and his family.
David Brett, 43, poured paint stripper on mother-of-one Philomena Willets’ car and hacked into her husband’s emails to send messages to friends and neighbours accusing the couple of being paedophiles
‘David Brett managed to infiltrate his email accounts and sent many messages from him and to him suggesting the pair of them were sex offenders and he and his brothers were untrustworthy.’
Brett, of Westminster, sent emails to neighbours in which he falsely accused Mrs Willets’ husband of showing him indecent images of young girls.
Brett was arrested in April 2016 and pleaded guilty at Leeds Magistrates Court, but he was later found to have been unfit to have entered a plea.
He was remanded in hospital under the Mental Health Act until doctors decided his mental state had improved enough for him to enter a plea.
Brian Richardson, defending, told the court Brett suffered from persistent delusional disorder, and more assessments over his mental health would be taking place.
Judge Barklem said although recent changes to sentencing guidelines around stalking and harassment had increased the maximum sentence to 10 years, the events in this case were not covered by this, so the maximum jail sentence he could impose was five years, minus one-third afforded to Brett due to his guilty plea.
He sentenced the stalker to 40 months to run concurrently for the first five counts, and four weeks for the assault charge, to run consecutively.
Brett will serve half of this sentence in prison.