GARY BRAIDWOOD FROM GLOSSOP STILL LIVING NEAR VICTIM AFTER STALKING SENTENCE

In May 2022, a woman from Glossop found herself living in ongoing fear due to her neighbour, Gary Braidwood, who had previously been prosecuted for stalking her. Despite his conviction, Braidwood remains a resident on her street, raising concerns about her safety and the effectiveness of the legal measures taken against him.

It all began in November 2021 when the woman started receiving a series of disturbing and increasingly threatening notes from Braidwood. The notes contained explicit demands, including a chilling ultimatum: if she did not send him nude photographs, he threatened to set her house on fire. The first note appeared at the start of that month, and initially, she thought it might have been a prank by local children, as the handwriting was child-like and seemingly innocent.

One of the notes explicitly read: “Send two nude photos to [his email address] one from the front and one back or I will burn your house down.” Despite the childish appearance of the handwriting, the woman recognized the seriousness of the threat. She reported the incident to her local police station, but she claims her concerns were not taken seriously at the time.

Over the following week, the woman continued to receive letter after letter through her door. The messages grew more sinister, with some mentioning her child and suggesting that if she cared about her family, she would comply with his demands. One note simply read “tick tock,” accompanied by his email address, adding to her growing sense of dread.

In an effort to identify her stalker, she installed a Ring doorbell camera. The footage she captured was disturbing; it showed Braidwood creeping up to her door in a manner reminiscent of a horror film. At this point, she did not recognize him and was unaware that he was her neighbour.

On March 31, at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, Braidwood, aged 41, was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, after pleading guilty to stalking that caused her to fear violence. The court also ordered him to complete 30 days of Rehabilitation Activity Requirement and imposed a five-year restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim.

Despite the court’s ruling, the woman reports that Braidwood continues to live just a few doors down from her. She has been told by Derbyshire Police that they cannot take further action unless he commits another offence. She expressed her fears, saying, “After sentencing I asked where he was going to be living and witness care didn’t know. I was terrified because I could have just bumped into him. Then it turns out he was still living on my street a few houses away from me.”

Adding to his troubling history, Braidwood was involved in a separate incident in 2019. He avoided prison after being caught taking upskirt photographs of a woman and following her around Tesco in Glossop, recording her without consent. The incident occurred on September 5, 2018, at around 3 pm, when Braidwood, then 39, lay on the floor of the store and took photographs up the woman’s skirt before following her and recording her with a camera.

He was arrested on October 1, 2018, and later pleaded guilty at Stockport Magistrates’ Court to outraging public decency and the upskirting offence. The law regarding upskirting had only recently been criminalized on April 12 of that year, with penalties of up to two years in prison. Prosecutor David Morgan described the incident, stating, “At 3 pm, the defendant went into a Tesco store, laid down close to a female, took a photo, and then followed her around the shop, recording her.”

As part of his sentence, Braidwood was ordered to complete an accredited sex offenders program, 30 days of rehabilitation activities, and 150 hours of unpaid work. Despite these measures, concerns remain about his continued residence in the same community, leaving the victim and local residents worried about potential future encounters.