Croydon man jailed for Facebook stalking (From Your Local Guardian)

Croydon man jailed for Facebook stalking

4:00pm Wednesday 9th December 2009 in

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A man has become one of the first people in the UK to be jailed for stalking someone on Facebook.

Salsa dancing Christian, Jacques More, 51, of Morland Road, Croydon, has already served a five-month prison sentence in 2008 for harassing Kelly Culverhouse, 21.

He was sentenced to six months in prison at Croydon Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, December 7 after he was found guilty of breaching a restraining order.

More was given a harassment warning in July 2007 and told not to contact Miss Culverhouse.

When he continued to harass her, he was arrested and jailed for five months.

On October 8, around the time More contacted Miss Culverhouse he wrote on his Facebook page: “What to believe? What to believe? Who to believe?

“It’s the truth I want, and honesty and courage to speak is in short supply it seems: Well, I'll hold on to what I know and wait for the rest.”

More, who lists his hobbies as F1, rock climbing, salsa, walking, reading and TV, contacted Miss Culverhouse on the social networking site Facebook three times between September and October this year.

In a police interview he admitted emailing Miss Culverhouse but claimed he had a “reasonable excuse” to as she had contacted him first, “spiritually”.

In one of the messages More told Miss Culverhouse he had “New hope and encouragement when you prayed for me at 8am.”

A message sent on September 28 read: “If you don't contact me I will wait one more time at the tram stops at the appointed time.

“Please contact me or meet with me or leave me be or send me to prison.”

Another message read: “Unless you marry another I am not able to go anywhere else. All you have to say is slow or stop or whatever and it will be.

“Why will you not even trust your best friends with what you have felt, please help, Jacques.”

Giving evidence, Miss Culverhouse said: “I assumed at the last court hearing, saying the same thing, he would assume I didn’t want anything to do with him.

“I was quite distressed when I heard from him. I just didn’t expect to hear from him again.”

When asked by Crown Prosecutor, Lucy Organ, why she didn’t just message him and tell him not to contact her, Miss Culverhouse said: “I don’t think he would have accepted it through a message through Facebook.”

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