Pontypool stalker jailed for threatening ex-girlfriend

A Pontypool stalker who bombarded his ex-girlfriend with nearly 100 phone calls and messages in defiance of a restraining order has been jailed for 30 months.

Daniel Dancey, 34, of Waunddu, Pontnewynydd, threatened to share an “intimate photograph” of the woman when she was “partially undressed”.

After a previous conviction for stalking, the defendant was made the subject of a five-year restraining order. Almost as soon as he was released from custody for that offence, he began to breach the order.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that one of the messages he sent asked her: “How much for you to sit on her face?”

Prosecutor Zoe Laugharne told the court he would also send her “disturbing” messages while transferring money into her bank account.

In a victim impact statement, the woman revealed: “As soon as he was released, I went back to living in fear. I do not feel comfortable doing day-to-day activities without feeling anxious. He has taken away my whole identity.”

She added: “I’ve had to change the locks on my front and back doors and I keep the curtains closed downstairs. He literally does not care. I’m suffering from constant panic attacks. I struggle to sleep on a regular basis and I struggle to concentrate in work. It’s going to take me a long time to trust anyone again – if I ever do. I wish I’d never met him.”

Miss Laugharne added: “Very real distress was caused to the victim.”

Dancey pleaded guilty to harassment, being in breach of a restraining order and threatening to share photograph or film of a person in an intimate state.

His barrister Hilary Roberts said his client had a “good work record” and urged the court to spare the defendant jail because “he needs help” from the probation service.

Judge Simon Mills told Dancey: “This was a campaign of harassment.”

The defendant was jailed for 30 months and told he would serve half of that sentence in custody before being released on licence. He was told that the time he had spent remanded in custody would count towards that term.

Dancey was ordered to pay a statutory victim surcharge.