GAS FITTER JAILED FOR STALKING NOTTINGHAMSHIRE WOMAN AFTER BOILER REPAIR
A Nottinghamshire widow was stalked by a gas fitter who came to fix her boiler.Mum-of-two Ellie Slatter said she wanted to warn other women about Craig Foulstone who she said “developed some sort of dangerous fixation” on her.
She said the 58-year-old turned up at her address on numerous occasions and left notes despite her successfully applying for a stalking protection order.
Now he has been sent to prison for his "persistent course of conduct” against her.
Ms Slatter, 47, of Worksop, said: “Because he was a mate of a mate I didn’t think there would be any problem but it turned into a nightmare.
This was not an ex-partner, it was simply a gas engineer who came to my home to fix my boiler and developed some sort of dangerous fixation towards me." Christopher Grabowski, prosecuting at Nottingham Crown Court, said the order was put in place to protect Ms Slatter earlier this year.
He said within weeks the defendant was turning up at her address and one day followed her around pubs in Sheffield when she was socialising with friends.
He said: “Between October 3 and 10 he attended Ms Slatter’s home address numerous times and left notes for her in the handle of the car door.
On October 12, he approached her in the Benjamin Huntsman pub in Sheffield city centre and spoke when she was with friends having a few drinks.
"She first noticed the defendant brush past her in one pub and he was there in another pub when he approached her to speak to her.
He then approached her again on a final occasion.
He was visited at his home address and three mobile phones were found and analysed and it was found that he had created fake Facebook accounts in other names which was a further breach.
There were persistent, multiple, breaches of the same order.
It was a course of conduct.” Mr Grabowski read out two victim impact statements made by Ms Slatter.
In them she told how she has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and now deliberately parks her car in spaces when she cannot be blocked in.
He said: “She said on one occasion she was fuelling her car and a man came up to her to ask if the pump was working which made her jump and that she ‘just ran away from him’.” Foulstone, of Packmans Way, Grenoside, Sheffield, pleaded guilty to five breaches of a stalking protection order and breaching a suspended sentence order imposed in September for possession of a knife.
He has 11 previous convictions for 18 offences.
Clarkson Baptiste, mitigating, said he and his client “accepted at the outset” the only sentencing option was immediate custody.
He said: “He had been working as a gas fitter and that is not available to him because of this conviction.
He just fell head over heels in love with her and he found the end of the relationship extremely difficult.
“He did not fully accept the harm it had on her and he now does and he apologises for his actions.
She need not fear any more contact from him.” Jailing him for 21 months, Recorder Richard Davis said: “You need to realise that orders of this court are there to be obeyed.
You have heard two victim impact statements and you should be in no doubt the level of emotional harm she suffered.” As well as the jail term, the judge handed the defendant a 10-year restraining order not to contact Ms Slater or enter Worksop.
