Hartlepool sex offender with grievance against Cleveland Police sentenced at Teesside Crown Court for assault and death threat

Gary Barnstaple, 62, from Hartlepool, was found guilty of an offence under the Online Safety Act and assaulting an emergency worker following a magistrates’ court trial last July.

He disputed the verdicts and launched an appeal which was heard at Teesside Crown Court.

But it was unsuccessful with the judge saying his case was “without merit”.

A further sentencing hearing on Tuesday heard the offences arose out of contact between Barnstaple and probation officials after he was given a suspended prison sentence last March.

Recorder David Brooke said: “That then led to a conversation with the complainant in this case.

"During that conversation you made a threat to kill which even if it was recklessly was taken seriously by the complainant and caused her alarm and distress.”

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She went to the police before a police constable who went to arrest Barnstaple two days later on April 24 last year was assaulted.

Recorder Brooke said Barnstaple had become “obsessive” with the police.

He added: “Whatever the right and wrongs of it, you have allowed that to get under your skin to such an extent you lost your temper that day and you did the same thing when the police officers came round.

"You are in a sense your own worst enemy when it comes to these things. You feel a sense of aggrievement and it’s led you to this.”

Barnstaple, of Flint Walk, Hartlepool, was jailed for 33 months in 2017 for indecent assault and led to him being placed on the sex offenders’ register.

He went on to breach the terms of its notification requirements by going on a Spanish cruise in the summer of 2023 without telling the police of his intention to travel abroad or registering his passport.

It led to Barnstaple being given 10 months imprisonment, which was suspended for two years, together with 200 hours unpaid work.

For the new offences, he was given six months’ jail although he is to be released straightaway after already serving more than seven months inside.

Recorder Brooke ordered the suspended sentence to remain in place but fined Barnstaple £250 for breaching it.

He was also ordered to pay £250 court costs and a victim surcharge.