A stalker hell-bent on revenge sent pornographic pictures of his ex to his daughter, a court heard today.
Blair Addison, 46, who uses they/them pronouns, sent tens of thousands of messages to their ex Derek Clarke in the six months after they split up, alternating between “love bombing” and threatening him.
These included chilling threats to throw him off a balcony or strangle him – as well as saying they would put up posters with false claims he was a paedophile around his home address.
Prosecuting at Lewes Crown Court today, Naomi Edwards said the pair’s break-up in early 2023 was initially amicable and Mr Clarke invited them to his 60th birthday party in March that year.
But after a series of abusive messages, Mr Clarke told Addison they were no longer welcome – inadvertently unleashing months of abuse.
This began with accusations he was uninviting Addison because of his gender status. Over the following days, Addison would regularly send more than 100 abusive messages a day, including footage of the hotel his family were staying in for his party, pictures of Addison getting ready for the party and and sexually explicit messages.
In April, Addison sent voicemails directed at Mr Clarke’s ex-wife on the number of one of her work colleagues. In June, she received Facebook messages from them calling her and her children’s life pathetic.
Miss Edwards said: “This was all encompassing. It involved his family and friends as well and clearly that has had an impact on him as well, knowing that other people have been drawn into this.
“One of his children is the subject of the second charge. Mr Clarke’s daughter was sent 15 explicit photographs of her father by the defendant via WhatsApp along with texts and voicenotes. She immediately recognised Addison’s voice.
“She received the images on one day without any warning. One of the texts said: ‘Your father lied to me. I feel sorry for you and your sister. I believe he’s a paedophile.'”
By May, Addison was sending disturbing death threats. One said: “I could come over and smash the fucking shit out of you, you know that, don’t you, and there’s nothing I would love more than to fucking kill you, to shove you off the balcony.
“I would delight in seeing the last breathing coming from your mouth as I fucking strangle you.”
Around the same time, there was an attempt to break into Mr Clarke’s flat. Mr Clarke had changed his routine, including medical appointments, in an attempt to avoid Addison.
When Mr Clarke returned home from his birthday party in May, he found a piece of metal inserted in his lock so he couldn’t get in, and a gift bag from Addison hanging over the handle.
This prompted Mr Clarke to report Addison to the police for the first time – but even after they had been arrested, interviewed and bailed, the messages and calls continued for a while.
Eventually they stopped for a few months, and police dropped the case – but in December they restarted, and Addison was again sending about a hundred messages a day.
Addison also sent a sexually graphic video of the two of them, which made Mr Clarke fear he would send it to someone else. At the same time, Addison was making contact with friends of Mr Clarke on social media.
Eventually, Addison was arrested on 28 December and the abuse finally stopped.
In a victim impact statement read out in court, Mr Clarke said the abuse had left him afraid of his own shadow and ruined two significant family milestones – his 60th birthday and the birth of his first grandchild.
The constant messages had also left his phone unusable, he said.
When he had travelled to Australia to meet his first grandchild, Addison was sending him at least 100 messages, with more than 300 sent on the worst day.
He said: “It caused immense stress and anxiety during what should have been a joyous occasion. I’m shattered to know it’s affected my children.
“When my daughter came to visit me, she didn’t feel safe staying at my home, which had been her home for nine years and a space I had so tried to make safe and welcoming. That’s been taken away.
“When they threatened to send pornographic images of me to my daughter I though they wouldn’t go that far, but they did.”
“Being a dad you always want to protect your children, and I feel guilty I couldn’t protect them from someone I let into their lives.
“Before Blair, I was outgoing and relaxed, not I am withdrawn, reluctant to go out and constantly on edge.
“I know I will be changed forever, but I hope to regain some semblance of my former life.”
Defending, Richard Reilly asked the judge to take into account Addison’s neurodiversity, which he argued should reduce his culpability.
He said: “The defendant is very much in a different place now. There’s been a vast improvement and I have had the privilege to meet with the defendant on many occasions and they seem in a far better place.
“It was very concerning watching those recordings [in which Addison threatened Mr Clarke]. They were clearly labouring under emotional stress, doubtless exacerbated by drug use which blighted their life for some time.”
Sentencing, Judge Mark van der Zwart said while he accepted Addison’s neurodiversity reduced his culpability, the offences were still serious enough to warrant a prison sentence.
Referencing the revenge porn sent to Mr Clarke’s daughter, he said: “That was a vicious thing to do, and you also sent disturbing messages to Mr Clarke’s ex-wife.
“His daughter and his ex wife have nothing to do with this. Nevertheless they, together with Mr Clarke, were caused significant anguish and humiliation by that action of revenge porn.”
He said the graphic video sent in December was clearly meant as a threat to send more revenge porn.
Referencing a letter of apology Addison had written which was given to the court, Mr van der Zwart said it was striking the one person not mentioned in that was Mr Clarke.
It’s clear to me you were obsessed with taking revenge on Derek Clarke for ending the relationship with you. You didn’t care who it affedcted.
You now blame him for your actions and paint yourself as the victim.
“No one is to blame for these crimes but you.
“Offences such as these are all too easy to commit using social media and the press of an icon, but the effects on victims and their families are corrosive and cause significant harm.
“Only a custodial sentence can be justified.”
However, he said that bearing in mind Addison’s neurodiversity and a pre-sentence report which said he would be at significant risk of harm in prison, it would be justified to suspend the sentence.
He sentenced them to 16 months for the charge of stalking involving fear of violence and eight months for disclosing private sexual photographs – both reduced by a third to take into account Addison’s early guilty plea.
He ordered Addison to undertake 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days, and pay £150 costs.
He also imposed a five-year restraining order preventing Addison from contacting Mr Clarke or his family or posting about them online.
The sentencing remarks were briefly halted when a friend of Addison’s in the public gallery raised his hand to protest at Mr van der Zwart’s inadvertent use of the wrong pronoun.
Maybe them/they should go back to being one person and not a plural, and perhaps them/they wouldn’t be a total lunatic.