A builder who emotionally abused his partner by stalking her via social media and making hoax 999 calls so police would go to her house in the middle of the night has been jailed.
Sam Bridgeham, 33, admitted coercive and controlling behaviour in an intimate relationship and of breaching a non-molestation order preventing him from contacting a different woman.
The court heard his controlling behaviour had started with name calling and criticism and slowly escalated to the hoax 999 calls, popularly known as swatting, and also putting on a fake accent to call her family and threaten them.
The behaviour made his victim, a 40-something woman from Southwick, feel crazy and “a shell of her former self”, and she said she spent all her time trying to please him.
At Lewes Crown Court last Friday Bridgeham, was jailed for 25 months for the coercive control and 15 months for breaching the order, made in relation to a Portslade woman, also in her 40s.
Detective Constable Greg Brown of Worthing Investigations said; “Bridgeham gradually increased the emotional pressure on his then-partner, starting off by calling her abusive names and constantly criticising her.
“Then he monitored her phone calls and social media, asked her to take pictures and send them to him to confirm her location, messaged her friends to monitor where she was.
“He put on a fake accent and made threatening phone calls to her family and made fake calls to police to get them to attend her address in the middle of the night.
“He sent numerous calls and messages from withheld or new numbers and left flowers at her door, refusing to accept the relationship was over.
“He made her feel like she was crazy and badly damaged her relationship with her family.
“Eventually, in June 2018, after yet another series of distressing incidents in their home, she terminated the relationship and has had the courage which we very much admire, to see through his prosecution.
“This case illustrates the impact that this type of vicious behaviour can have on the victim in the long term, degrading self-esteem with the potential to make the victim a shell of their former self.
“In this case the victim said that for a long time her whole life was spent trying to please Bridgeham.
“His conduct in continuing to molest a previous partner in defiance of a court order not to do so, additionally shows that this type of behaviour is not isolated as far as he is concerned.
“But this case also shows that you do not need to suffer in silence. Help is at hand if you contact us. We can investigate and can also ensure you have protection and access to specialist sources of advice and support.
“If you or anyone you know is in an abusive relationship like this, contact us at any time online or by calling 101, and arrange to talk in confidence to experienced detectives. But if you are feeling threatened or are in fear now, call 999.”
Bridgeham, who in recent years has lived at addresses in Hove or been homeless but was living in Erith, London when he was sentenced, was also given a four-year Restraining Order prohibiting him from contact with the victim of his coercive and controlling behaviour.
He pleaded not guilty to a charge of causing actual bodily harm to the Southwick victim which was not proceeded with at court and will lay on the court file.
