ANDREW GRANT JAILED FOR STALKING WOMAN IN WHITEHAVEN
The boss of a construction company carried out a disturbing harassment campaign against his former partner, including setting up fake Facebook accounts and even trying to convince her that he had died.Andrew James Grant, aged 45, continued to stalk the woman despite being arrested on three separate occasions.
Carlisle Crown Court heard how, at the peak of his harassment, the victim began receiving messages from Facebook profiles under the guise of both a man and a woman.
She quickly became suspicious that the accounts were not genuine.
Prosecutor Tim Evans explained: “One of the reasons for linking them to the defendant was that they contained details about him within the messages — including claims that he had died.
“In a twisted way, when they reconciled and she told him about the fake profiles, he pretended to assist her in investigating them.” Grant went as far as falsely alleging that another man was behind the harassment, claiming he had gathered evidence pointing away from himself.
He was frequently seen near the woman’s Whitehaven residence.
On one occasion, she found his personal belongings left in her garden.
He also made unsolicited payments into her bank account and sent anonymous messages referencing a sexually transmitted infection.
In a separate incident in October 2019, Grant struck her partner’s leg with his van while reversing at speed in an attempt to flee after being spotted near her home.
Mr Evans described the police investigation as “extensive,” with compelling phone and CCTV evidence ultimately bringing Grant to justice.
He told the court: “This was persistent, calculated stalking with nasty and frightening elements to it.” Grant pleaded guilty to stalking between August 2018 and February 2020, as well as to a charge of careless driving.
The woman was eventually forced to relocate due to fear for her safety.
Mr Evans shared part of her victim impact statement: “She felt like she was in danger in her own home.
She said there came a point when she no longer cared and would have been perfectly happy never to wake up again.
“She fervently hopes this defendant will come to realise that women cannot be treated in this way.” Defence counsel Brendan Burke noted that Grant had since relocated to Southampton and was in a new relationship.
He added there was no indication of repeated offending and warned that imprisonment could cause the ‘collapse’ of Grant’s ‘thriving’ nationwide construction firm.
However, sentencing him to 30 months in prison, Judge Richard Archer condemned the conduct as a “campaign of harassment.” “It had, at its heart, a high level of persistence; a high degree of malevolence.
It was significantly premeditated,” said the judge.
“Nothing, it seems, was going to deter you from making your victim’s life a misery.” Grant, previously of Graham Street, Carlisle, was also banned from driving for 12 months following his release and made the subject of an indefinite restraining order
