Man admits stalking ex-girlfriend after admitting bombarding her with calls and texts

A man is waiting to learn his fate today after he admitted stalking his ex-girlfriend.

Gary Peacock, 53, bombarded his former partner with calls and texts, Teesside magistrates heard.

Prosecutor Robert Moore said the couple met on holiday in August 2012 and the woman tried to end the relationship last December due to him constantly calling her and her friends.

He became verbally abusive over the phone and in texts and made threats when she told him she was going to work abroad, the court was told.

When she went to work in Turkey with a travel company in April last year, he bombarded the firm’s customer service department with emails, added Mr Moore.

He was asked to leave her alone but the calls continued.

He asked her colleagues if he could speak to her and they refused to put him in contact.

She contacted the police as Peacock was making her job impossible with his constant calls, Mr Moore said.

He also went to her home in Sunderland and asked the tenant for her contact details.

After she came back to the UK in June he carried on “pestering” her with calls and texts.

She said his behaviour left her feeling scared, unsafe and unable to escape the constant contact.

She put her house up for sale so that he no longer knew where she lived. She and her friends changed their mobile phone numbers.

Peacock, of Leven Road, Norton, Stockton, admitted a charge of stalking between April 1 and September 9 last year, his first conviction.

He told police he was concerned about her whereabouts as she had not told him she had gone to Turkey.

He said he tried to contact her because he wanted an explanation why she no longer wanted to be with him.

He was not represented by a solicitor in court.

He said he accepted the Crown’s version of events, but later in the hearing said some aspects were “false, untrue”.

When asked again whether he accepted that he carried out the actions alleged, he said yes.

Chairing the magistrates’ bench, Sheila Morton adjourned the case for a Probation Service report to be prepared and bailed Peacock until sentencing on April 7.