Estranged husband sentenced after allegedly threatening to throw acid on wife during five-month stalking campaign

Shaun Graham, 34, of Hereford Way, Fellgate, Jarrow, also assaulted her after their five-year marriage collapsed.

And he even contacted her employer to falsely claim she had committed a fraud, magistrates in South Tyneside heard.

The dad-of-two has now been given an indefinite restraining order not to contact his ex, except for child care reasons.

In statements read to the court by prosecutor Clare Irving, the woman said she had not wanted him prosecuted over abuse from November 2019 to March 2020.

But she relented after several increasingly worrying incidents, including him sending back a letter from her solicitor with swear words on it.

She claimed he continued to contact her up to 30 times a day and made the “spurious” claim of workplace fraud.

Ms Irving said on March 18 last year, the woman received WhatsApp calls and a message saying she “better not be messing around”.

She added he threatened to “throw acid on her”, and said, ‘Watch when you’re walking down the street’.

In another message, disgruntled Graham said, ‘Watch when you’re walking around the corners because someone will throw acid at you’.

Graham also assaulted her at her home three days later, after he turned up asking for his non-existent dictaphone.

Ms Irving said he had put his face into hers, and touched her nose with his forehead, leading to the assault charge.

Ian Cassidy, defending, said: “What he accepts is that the relationship has come to an end.

“This has started from his ex-partner stopping him from having access to his children for three months, and that caused him to behave this way.

“He very much regrets his behaviour over this period, and it is not the way he would behave in the future.”

Graham pleaded guilty to assault by beating and stalking involving serious alarm or distress on the day of an expected trial.

For both charges, magistrates made Graham subject to an 18-month community order, with a requirement of 180 hours of unpaid work.

He must pay £400 court costs and a £90 victim surcharge.

The restraining order also prohibits him from entering The Glade and The Bower, both Fellgate.

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