Fleetwood man threatened to release ex-partner's explicit videos if she went to police

Wayne Robinson, from Fleetwood, was given a suspended sentence at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to stalking and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Recorder Katie Jones was told the 38-year-old revealed private information online that the woman was pregnant.

And he then taunted her with explicit videos she had sent him, leading her to fear he would upload them onto social media.

When she took the matter to the police Robinson made numerous threats, demanding she drop the case before it went to court.

Things got so bad that she twice contemplated killing herself and even wrote suicide notes to her kids.

The court heard that the couple had been in a relationship for about a year, but had broken up in 2022.

It was said Robinson then launched a barrage of emails, many of them abusive, after hearing she had kissed another man.

READ MORE: Couple who lived in tent split due to 'highly abusive' relationship.

He threatened to "ruin her life and destroy her," said the prosecution at Preston Crown Court. He threatened to "expose her" on social media.

In one week he sent her around 100 emails - 61 of them on one day alone. He threatened to withhold money he owed her and mentioned he still had a number of "sex videos" she had sent him.

In April last year the woman posted on a baby forum that she was pregnant, to which he reacted angrily.

He made threats to post the baby message on social media if she brought in the police, saying: "If you get the coppers involved I'll press the ****ing button."

Eventually he did post the baby message against her wishes before later deleting it.

But the fear of him making the videos public persisted.

"She was panicking he would share the videos of her online in an attempt to get her to drop the charges," said the prosecution.

She even visited him more than once and had sex with him "in an effort to try and shut him up."     

In a victim impact statement read out in court, the woman said she had "constantly felt sick and anxious."

She found it difficult to go to work because Robinson would constantly get in touch while she was working.

She went off ill because she couldn't carry on her job as normal.

She added he had destroyed her confidence and made her feel useless as a mum. The situation "was dominating her whole life, everything she did he impacted on."

On two occasions she even considered suicide. She felt the only way to make it stop was to take her own life. On both occasions she wrote suicide notes to her children, but stepped back from doing anything and destroyed them.

Robinson, of Chatsworth Avenue, who had a previous conviction for stalking in 2018, was remanded in custody in October awaiting this hearing.

His defence barrister Daniel Harman said it had been his first taste of life behind bars and had been a "sobering experience for him."

Mr Harman said some of the messages were "very nasty" and Robinson was "appalled at sending them in the cold light of day - and so he should be." He said the key to this offending had been drink.

"What is clear is he is blowing hot and cold. Sometimes he has a drink and sometimes he doesn't. It is clear that alcohol is a massive problem in his life, particularly in these offences. He has had an unhealthy relationship with drink.

"For him to be in custody for the first time at 38 shows how bad things had got with his drinking. He (now) wants to start rebuilding his life."

Mr Harman said Robinson had not made a specific threat to upload the sex videos online, he had told his ex-partner that if the matter went to court "it is likely it will all come out." He added: "He is saying he has all these to hand over to his solicitor, not that he will publish them.

"He is very keen to say that he is very sorry for what happened. He accepts what he did."

Recorder Jones told Robinson: "After it (relationship) ended there had been a period of problematic contact by you to her, sending her unwanted contacts asking her repeatedly for sex.

"You sent the victim numerous emails. The cycle of emails started off pleasantly enough, but eventually during this cycle you would become angry and abusive. She formed the view that abusive emails tended to be sent when you had taken alcohol.

"You threatened to go on social media and expose her. She was very worried that you would carry out your threat and say untrue things about her."

The judge said the threats were "clear and sinister attempts by you to manipulate her to do what you wanted." The woman was afraid Robinson would share the intimate and explicit videos online in order to get her to drop the charges.

"It dominated her whole life and on two occasions she considered taking her own life - she wrote suicide notes to her children."

Recorder Jones gave Robinson a 10-week jail term for stalking and a 31-week sentence for attempting to pervert the course of justice. Both were suspended for two years.

In addition he was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work, 30 rehabilitation activity days and take part in the Building Better Relationships programme.

The judge also imposed a restraining order banning him from contacting the woman in any way, including by email and on social media.