A man bombarded his former partner with abusive and threatening phone calls after a chance encounter in the street, a court has heard.
Jamie Hole made dozens of disgusting calls to his ex including ones where he threatened to burn her house down and advised her to “sleep with one eye open”. The 35-year-old has a history of harassing and abusing former partners.
Tom Scapens, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that Hole and his most recent victim has been in an “on-off relationship” for a number of years before it come to an end in the summer of 2020 due to the defendant’s consumption of alcohol which had become “intolerable”. The family court in Port Talbot subsequently issued a non-molestation order against Hole banning him from contacting, harassing, or inflicting violence upon the woman.
READ MORE:Married paedophile groomed 13-year-old girl online and travelled to Swansea and Neath Port Talbot for sex
The court heard on July 15 this year Hole saw his ex as she walked through Neath town centre with friends and began shouting her name. This was to be the start of a week-long spree of contact. The court heard over the subsequent days Hole made dozens of calls to the woman, often from withheld or unknown numbers. In the calls that were answered he called the mother-of-two a “slag” and a “whore” and made threats to burn her house down.
The matter was reported to police and a few days later officers spotted Hole on the street. However he fled before he could be arrested and over the following three days – while being hunted by police – he continued to make a series of abusive calls, sometimes trying to disguise who he was by adopting “funny voices”. Mr Scapens said Hole told the woman he would ensure her children were taken off her, advised her to “sleep with one eye open” because he was coming for her, and said: “If I can’t have you, nobody else will – I will make sure of that.”
Hole was arrested on July 24 and in interview he accepted the allegations but said he could not remember making any of the calls because of his level of intoxication. In a statement from the victim which the prosecutor read to the court the woman said Hole’s behaviour was having a huge impact on her and her family but she said she didn’t want her former partner punished and just wanted him to “get his head sorted” and to tackle his drink problem.
Jamie Edward Hole, of Wheatley Road, Penrhiwtyn, Neath, admitted breaching a non-molestation order and harassment. He has previous convictions for criminal damage, public order matters, battery and harassment. A number of the offences relate to previous partners.
James Hartson, for Hole, said the defendant had obeyed the non-molestation order for some eight months until the “chance encounter” in Neath which triggered the subsequent spree of contact. He said despite what had been said on the phone Hole maintained he would never have harmed the complainant and it said it was clear from a probation report there were deficits in the defendant’s thinking caused by his alcoholism and mental health with both these problems being a result of his “traumatic childhood”.
Check what crimes have been reported in your area:
Judge Catherine Richards said it must had been a frightening experience for Hole’s victim to receive the threats as his intoxicated state meant his behaviour was unpredictable and nobody could be sure quite what he would do. She added: “True remorse would mean taking steps to tackle your alcoholism.”
Giving the defendant the required one-third discount for his guilty pleas the judge sentenced him to 10 months in prison consisting of 10 months for breaching the non-molestation order and four months for the harassment offence to run concurrently. Hole will serve up to half that period in custody before being released to serve the remainder in the community.
Stay in touch with everything you need to know, whether it’s in your area or about crime or sport, by getting our newsletters. To sign up click here .
Read More
Related Articles
Read More
Related Articles
