Jail warning after man broke restraining order
An obsessive man who followed his ex-partner around a supermarket, despite a restraining order that banned him from contacting her, has been given a suspended sentence.
When he saw the woman in a Whitchurch Tesco branch, Paul Green was under a 10-year restraining order telling him not to bother her, following other occasions when he had harassed her.
In January last year Green, now 39, was caught on CCTV following the woman around the supermarket and talking to her, without a basket or trolley of his own.
He continued talking to her and footage from outside the store showed him lingering nearby while she put her shopping in her car.
Green, of Sharps Drive in Whitchurch, was brought to Shrewsbury Crown Court to be sentenced for breaking the restraining order.
He also pleaded guilty to another breach of the restraining order on the day before the meeting in Tesco.
Prosecutor Miss Naomi Nelson-Cofie read a statement from the victim describing how Green’s persistent harassment made her feel scared to leave her home and led her to change her behaviour when outside, setting up code words with her friends to let them know if she felt endangered.
“He follows me everywhere I go,” the statement said.
“I don’t feel like myself anymore and worry I will never get back to the happy, outgoing person I once was.”
Judge Anthony Lowe imposed a jail sentence of nine months, suspended for two years.
He also made a fresh restraining order, banning Green from contacting his victim in any way for 10 years.
