Man terrified victims with years of malicious messages

A man who terrified his three victims with years of malicious and threatening messages has been sentenced.

Matthew Myles of Stetchworth Ley, Stetchworth, subjected a father (54) and daughter (20) and a 75-year-old man to 17 months of abusive emails, text messages and Facebook posts.

The 32-year-old threatened to harm the victims and sent graphic and grossly offensive messages from October 2020, creating multiple fake email addresses, a fake Facebook account and using an application to disguise his phone number allowing calls to victims to appear to be from anonymous or unknown numbers.

He arranged unwanted deliveries and food orders as well as taxis to the victim’s home addresses in Lincolnshire and Suffolk.

At Peterborough Crown Court on Tuesday (9 April), Myles was sentenced to 14 months in prison, suspended for two years, after previously pleading guilty to three counts of sending communications of an offensive nature.

He was also given a 15-year restraining order not to contact any of the victims.

PC Dave Clark, from the East Cambridgeshire neighbourhood policing team, said: “Myles subjected his victims to a living nightmare. He is responsible for sending communications which contained threats to life and grossly offensive imagery. These were unwanted and deeply distressing for all of the victims involved.

“I hope this sentence will provide some closure for the victims and assure them that any further contact will lead to a prison sentence.”