Hartlepool man found guilty of stalking former girlfriend

Jonathan Horsely’s trial heard how he “would be at the top of the street, at the bottom” following the breakdown of the pair’s brief relationship in 2022.

The court was told how his behaviour, including texts, social media messages and phone calls with his number disguised, forced the woman to move home.

Teesside magistrates have now found 48-year-old Horsely, whose address was given as care of Alliance Street, on the Headland, in Hartlepool, guilty of stalking her after his trial resumed this week following a summer adjournment.

But he was cleared of a second charge of assaulting her by grabbing her by the throat after they met in a shop last year.

The court heard that Horsely was seen by the woman on a number of occasions near her home between November and December 2022 after their relationship broke down at the start of November.

Mr Neil Taylor, defending, said Horsely regularly frequented the area to tend to his brother’s grave, play snooker and meet friends and family.

The court how throughout their relationship, which was described as having its “ups and downs,” both parties repeatedly blocked and unblocked each other on social media.

Giving evidence, the woman said: “I felt when he was blocked, I did not know what kind of mindset he would be in.

"So I felt if I could unblock him, I could see what kind of mindset he would be in and I felt if he was blocked, he would turn up at places where I did not want him to be.”

Mr Taylor told the court that Horsely was concerned for the welfare of the woman following health issues.

But prosecutor Anne Mitchell, cross-examining Horsely, said: “She was fit for work. She was fit for driving. You had no reason to be concerned.”

Horsely will be sentenced at the same court in October and has been granted bail on condition that he he does not contact the woman or enter a certain area of the town.