Wigan man stalked his ex and her new partner after break-up

Lee Roberts bombarded Katherine Hall and her new boyfriend Robert Malloy with texts and phone calls, after the two started seeing each other last summer.

The 38-year-old, of School Terrace, Golborne, was prevented by Wigan justices from contacting the pair in any form for the next 12 months.

The prosecution said Roberts and Ms Hall had been in a turbulent relationship before they split last year. Thereafter she met Mr Malloy while on holiday and they began a relationship.

On August 11, she received a call from her mum to say Roberts had contacted her, that he had been to her address and saw she was ready to move house. In a victim impact statement read in court, Ms Hall said: “I’m genuinely scared about what Lee might do. He is unstable and said he will ‘do time for me’. I just want this to end.”

It wasn’t long after this that Mr Malloy began receiving messages from Roberts, first by text then comments on his Facebook profile. He reported receiving as many as 50 phone calls in one day.

But defending Roberts, David Foster gave the court a different version of events, stating the couple were engaged and in fact still together when Ms Hall went on holiday where she met Mr Malloy. Roberts was originally supposed to go with her but had to cancel for work reasons.

Ms Hall told Roberts of the new relationship when she arrived home, and then ceased contact with him. He then received a message from Mr Malloy which said: “Oi ****, you’re dead.” It was from here that Roberts “goes to pieces,” bombarding the couple with messages and calls.

Mr Foster described Roberts as “going overboard” in his search for answers about why his relationship had ended. He also claimed that Ms Hall had in fact tried to contact Roberts 20 to 30 times offering to talk after the split.

Admitting stalking, Roberts was given a 12-month community order, ordered to pay £185 costs, and must not contact Ms Hall, her mother or Mr Malloy for 12 months.