‘Frightening Jekyll and Hyde’ Southsea stalker who terrorised ex-partner leaving her scared to leave house is jailed

Southsea stalker Daniel Plumstead, who was on the run from police in December before he was caught, reared his ‘ugly head’ after tormenting the Portsmouth woman by threatening to burn her house down and sending her menacing messages - including pictures of him outside her house.

The 35-year-old with a ‘drink and drug problem’ turned nasty after being dumped in July of last year. ‘He threatened to stab me and my partner and said he would never let me go,’ the victim, who was at Portsmouth Crown Court to see him sent to prison, said in a statement.

The woman recalled how she fell ‘totally in love with him’ before he turned ‘aggressive and violent’. ‘He would grab me by my throat, threaten me with a knife and spit in my face,’ she said. ‘I thought it was all my fault.’

The female said she was ‘scared to leave my house’ after he made threats to hurt her. She described him as ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ before adding: ‘I never knew who I was going to wake up to.’

His merciless tormenting had taken its toll with her suffering anxiety and needing medication and sleeping tablets. ‘I feel like part of me died and I may never get it back,’ she said. The victim also said she was forced to change her working hours to avoid detection from the defendant.

SEE ALSO: Police officer jailed

The court heard that between December 6 - 19, Plumstead, of Fawcett Road, sent the female multiple messages - including a picture of him sat near her house - and tried to call her repeatedly. This was despite him having bail conditions not to contact her.

Then on December 19, Plumstead used his mother to convey a chilling threat to his former lover that he was going to burn her house down. ‘You can tell her I will go round there and burn her house down,’ he said to his mother.

‘(The victim) was genuinely concerned at him carrying out the threat,’ prosecutor Rosanna Martin said. ‘Ms Plumstead thought her son could carry out the act.’

Police were called before they tracked Plumstead down to an address where he was hidden in a cupboard. He denied any wrongdoing before the case went to trial at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court with him convicted of stalking without fear and threatening to damage property.

Jason Halsey, defending, said: ‘He can be loving but he is a Jekyll and Hyde and has a long term drink and drug problem. When things go wrong then he rears his ugly head. The relationship turned sour and he does not deal very well with it.’

The barrister said Plumstead, who has previous convictions for harassment, criminal damage and offensive communication, was drunk when he threatened to burn the woman’s house down but accepted it was a ‘frightening thing to do’ with him now ‘wanting to apologise’ but accepted the ‘writing was on the wall’ for his sentence.

And so it proved as judge David Melville KC jailed Plumstead for 12-months for intending to ‘intimidate and coerce’, before adding: ‘You intended to cause fear and distress.’

Plumstead was also handed an indefinite restraining order.