A 'persistent' abuser who called his ex-partner multiple times to 'laugh' down the phone at her has been jailed.
Andrew Gill, 37, breached his non-molestation order against his ex-partner on multiple occasions spanning a period of three weeks, Minshull Street Crown Court heard. Gill pleaded guilty to the breaches, which also included following the victim in her car and trying to add her on Snapchat.
The court heard how Gill, who had previously been told not to contact his ex-partner or children, made several attempts to contact her in September of this year, using a witheld number. When she picked up the phone, on two occasions she recognised the defendant's voice due to him laughing on the other end of the line.
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Prosecuting, Mr Brody said that Gill first called the victim on September 1, before trying to reach her again on September 3 by requesting to add her on Snapchat. He then called and 'laughed' at her again on September 17, before calling and 'breathing' down the phone two days later. On this call, the victim told Gill they 'needed to talk' before he hung up after around ten seconds.
Two days later, on September 21, she awoke to a missed call from a witheld number, and later that morning, received another phone call. She answered the call, believing it to be from someone else, but once again recognised Gill's voice, who asked her 'hello, can we talk?'. She told him she couldn't speak because she was about to do the school run, but asked him to ring back in an hour.
But on her way home, she spotted his car pulled over on a main road. The court heard that when she drove past him, he began to follow her in his vehicle. Mr Brody said she became 'really scared' and started to drive quicker to get away from him.
When she returned home, she received another two calls from Gill. Answering the second, she asked him why he had been waiting on the road for her. Gill told her he 'wanted to make sure she was alone, and wasn't setting him up'.
In another call that same evening, the court heard how Gill told the victim to 'drop the court case', referring to ongoing family proceedings, and said he knew that she was living near Littleborough. Mr Brody said she was left 'disconcerted' by this and told Gill she didn't want to speak to him, before ending the call and reporting his behaviour to the police.
In a victim personal statement the court heard how the victim had been left feeling 'scared' and forced to change her behaviour to avoid Gill. She said she 'just wanted to be left alone' and was had changed her number three times to try to get away from him.
"I don't know why I should go to all the trouble to change my life when he is the one who made my life like this," she said. "It's like nothing will stop him."
The court heard how in a police interview, Gill denied calling the victim on several occasions, but did admit calling her on September 21. He told officers he was on his way to a course in Rochdale when he saw the victim in her car, and was 'driving that way anyway'. He also was 'not bothered' about breaching the non-molestation order.
Defending, Ms Bennett said Gill was 'remorseful' and 'holds his hands up to everything' and said he was 'disgusted' with the way he had acted.
"Mr Gill is a man who struggles with feeling unheard," she said. "He has felt unheard by the family courts and by his ex-partner, and he has gone about that in a problematic way. He has acted defensively and aggressively. He sees that and he recognises that."
Sentencing, Judge Savill called the breaches 'serious and persistent', and noted that 'this is not the first time' Gill had been sentenced for similar offences. Gill is currently under a suspended sentence order in Northern Ireland for violent offences against the same woman.
"This was not a one off," he said. "This was a number of occasions over three weeks when you knew not to contact her. You made her life a real misery and really scared her.
"She's sick of you. She wants to be left alone. She is left asking herself, what is it going to take to make him stop?"
Gill, of Abbey Crescent, Heywood, was sentenced to 14 months in custody. He was also handed a 10-year restraining order against the victim 'to protect' her from 'further harassment'.
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