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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Adam Everett

Woman breached court order by messaging ex-boyfriend's dog on Facebook

A woman appeared in court for messaging her ex-boyfriend's dog on Facebook.

Paula Higham, from Aigburth, also threatened to kill her former partner, who she was banned from contacting by a court order. She then issued threats towards his mum after saying she was "looking rough".

Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Thursday, that the 37-year-old had been in a "turbulent" relationship with Mark Davies for around four years. In August 2021, Higham was handed a non-molestation order by the family courts preventing her from contacting him for one year after "embarking on a campaign of harassment".

READ MORE: 'Infatuated' woman resumed harassing childhood friend after prison release

But she continued in spite of the ban in a "persistent breach", sending a string of "deeply unpleasant" messages. A total of 13 emails were sent from two different accounts on the morning of of August 25 last year, only a week after the order was imposed.

Three days later, Higham - of Sandringham Drive - messaged a Facebook account which had been set up in the name of Mr Davies' dog. One abusive note read: "What's happened to your mum? She's looking very rough. She will be looking worse soon."

Another message added: "Enjoy your weekend. I've posted your name and address over the internet, rapist."

Mr Davies also recorded eight phone calls he had received from the defendant via a withheld number. In one shortly before midnight on September 21, Higham played a song down the phone.

At 2am on another date, she accused him of raping her and said: "Now you really are f***ed. You just went viral by the way."

On September 25, at around 4.30pm, Higham phoned saying "the rapist has got nothing to say has he?". She then called him a "f***ing freak" and added: "I'm going to kill you, I'm going to kill you."

Patrolling plain clothes police arrested her in January this year after she was circulated as wanted. Higham accused Mr Davies of being a "sex offender" several times from the dock during the hearing.

Higham has 17 previous convictions for 56 offences, including being jailed for criminal damage and assaulting an emergency services worker in 2015. This came after she threatened to "chop up" her partner's daughter and ripped pages from her wedding album, then slapped a police officer in the face before saying "I'm sorry, it was worth it though".

In 2017, she was locked up for nine months after banging on a married couple's door while brandishing a knife and armed with a can of pepper spray. Oliver Saddington, defending, told the court his client is considering an application to seek a restraining order against Mr Davies.

He added: "The relationship between her and Mr Davies is still in some flux and there are some difficulties. She has worked as a sex worker for much of her life to fund her crippling drug addiction.

"She has worked, since December last year, to address her addictions. She wants to continue on the path of abstinence. She knows this will be her very last chance, and if she did breach she would go to prison. It's the last chance saloon for her in many aspects."

Higham admitted breaching a non-molestation order and was handed a one-year imprisonment suspended for 18 months. She must also complete 100 hours of unpaid work and a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

Sentencing, Recorder Tim Harrington said: "I'm going to take a chance on you because I think you have made some positive steps. You have had a troubled life, and you have a bad record.

"You have made real efforts. It's down to you Ms Higham - if you do as you're told and keep out of trouble, you won't have to serve this sentence."

Higham was also handed a restraining order preventing her from contacting Mr Davies or attending his home for the next five years and told to pay a victim surcharge.

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