MAN JAILED AFTER OBSESSIVELY TRACKING WIFE
Charles Linsey, aged 30, from Brick Lane in Mepal near Ely, monitored his victim using her phone, tracking devices, and cameras placed throughout their residence.This surveillance forced her to spend most of her non-working time confined to a single room to avoid being watched.
His obsession started in 2022, initially with the victim consenting to a phone tracker for reassurance, but his controlling conduct intensified over time.
Without her awareness, Linsey deleted contacts from her social media, rejected friend requests, and kept lists of her passwords and locations she visited tracking how long she spent there.
He accessed her devices, viewed her photos and messages, and installed a tracking device on her car.
He also installed cameras both inside and outside their home, constantly surveilling her.
When she tried to disable the cameras, he threatened to report her for criminal damage.
Eventually, the victim confided in friends and family and moved out in April.
Despite this, Linsey continued to hack her WhatsApp account and monitored her from a distance, watching her over her fence at her new home.
In May, Linsey saw a friend at the victim’s residence and reacted violently, knocking on her door, shouting insults, and scratching her friend’s car.
The victim called emergency services, and officers took her to stay with a relative.
Later that evening, while getting a drink, she saw Linsey silhouetted outside her window shouting, “where is she?
Send her out,” followed by a barrage of abusive messages and phone calls.
She also discovered that the evidence she had collected over two years regarding Linsey’s behaviour and her application for a non-molestation order was disappearing from her phone, as Linsey had been remotely deleting and accessing her documents.
Linsey was arrested, and authorities found a firearm, knives, and handwritten notes about hacking, coding, and the victim at his residence.
On Monday, 22 December, at Cambridge Crown Court, Linsey was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to possessing a firearm, engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour within a relationship, and committing criminal damage.
He was also subjected to an indefinite restraining order.
