South Shields man who breached restraining order by phoning woman 16 times fined over £1,000

Kenneth Robson, 59, of Marlborough Street North, South Shields, made numerous phone calls to the woman – despite a court order not to contact her.

He even sent her a link to a website called Naughty Older Dating under the name ‘Kenny’, which she knew to be his occasional moniker.

The order breach left her feeling on edge and “looking over her shoulder”, prosecutor Jeff Taylor told South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court.

Robson has now been fined over £1,000 for the breach, with a court being told the offence was a one-off-caused by emotional distress.

Mr Taylor said the indefinite restraining order had been imposed by magistrates in Worcester in October in relation to harassment.

He said: “That order was made until further notice and dealt with the protection of his then separated wife. They were going through divorce proceedings.

“On November 29 she received 12 calls on her landline from withheld numbers. She reported the matter to BT and contacted the police.

“On December 17 at 11.30pm for two minutes there were four withheld calls, and two more on Christmas Eve from a withheld number.

“She would pick the call up and then the call was terminated. She is a hairdresser and can’t block calls because she will lose business.”

Mr Taylor added: “On January 2 she received an email from the Naughty Older Dating website, and it referred to someone called Kenny.

“She thought it was Mr Robson, because that was a name that he sometimes went under.”

Bushra Begum, defending, said: “He accepts that it must have been him that made the calls although he doesn’t recall them.

“It was the first time he would be away from his wife after a number of years of marriage.

“He doesn’t know about the email. He doesn’t have a dating website, and there’s nothing on his computer. There’s no other evidence pointing to Mr Robson.”

District Judge Kathryn Meek told Robson, who pleaded guilty to breaching the order, the calls had been out of character.

She fined him £1,167 with a £100 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.

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