“Fixated” Derbyshire stalker told ex he was “monitoring” her on Strava

Christopher Campbell, 33, bombarded his scared ex-girlfriend with emails and voicemail messages in the weeks that followed the break-up of their eight-month relationship in February.

In unwanted emails - filtered to a spam box - Campbell guilt-tripped his ex with “thoughts of taking his own life”.

Chesterfield Magistrates Court heard creepy Campbell, of Eckington, messaged his former partner, saying he was “obsessed over her”.

Prosecutor Andrew Conboy said on another occasion the heartbroken defendant left a voicemail while she was out walking her dog that he was dropping some of her belongings at her home.

Mr Convoy said: “She had already told him to get rid of them and she didn’t want them back.”

The prosecutor told how Campbell’s victim then “ran home” to find her belongings in her garden.

Magistrates heard the defendant claimed he asked his ex about Strava to “check on her welfare'' and “make sure she was still running for her own welfare”.

Campbell also claimed to have known his emails were not being read but sent them “to clear his head”.

The court heard during a police interview Campbell admitted his actions “ticked the boxes” as “fixated, unwanted and repeated behaviour” - the markers for stalking.

However he claimed having “no intention of causing her alarm or distress”.

In a victim impact statement read out in court she described being “anxious and afraid in my own home” and having to “change my behaviour”.

She said: “I had to think about my personal safety in a way I thought I would never have to - will he turn up at my house or a running route I take?

“I believe I am being emotionally manipulated - to have someone tell you they are going to hurt themselves because of you is emotional violence.”

Campbell’s solicitor Georgia Collins told magistrates the couple had rekindled the relationship previously after “several” break-ups.

She said Campbell had assumed the latest break-up would be reconciled as had others.

Miss Collins said he had followed his former partner’s Strava account to “make sure she was still running”, knowing it helped with her mental health.

While he simply dropped her belongings over the back gate and “did not try to speak to her”.

She said: “He accepts the nature of the emails but sent them to an email address he knew was blocked - he was just trying to offload his feelings.”

Campbell, of Queen Street, admitted stalking.

He was handed a two-year restraining order, a 31-day building better relationships programme and five rehabilitation activity days.

The defendant was also fined £100, made to pay £85 court costs and a £95 victim surcharge.

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