Matthew Samuel (Image: South Wales Police)
Last Updated: 2 minutes ago
A 35-year-old man who bombarded a former partner with dozens of calls a day, turned up at her children’s school in a balaclava, and told her “You are mine. You will always be mine” has been sent back to prison.
Matthew Samuel, formerly of Vicarage Road, Morriston, Swansea, but now of no fixed abode, was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court after pleading guilty to stalking involving serious alarm or distress and breach of a restraining order.
Lengthy history of offending against women
The court heard Samuel has 31 previous convictions for 52 offences, among them stalking, harassment, and breaching restraining orders relating to two earlier former partners. His past behaviour included threatening to pour petrol through one ex-partner’s letterbox and to “chop her up and burn her alive”, while he poured petrol over the driveway of another former partner and set it alight.
In October 2024, he received an 18-month prison sentence for stalking the same woman at the centre of the latest case. On that occasion, the court heard he had made her life “a misery” through unwanted and threatening calls, texts, and visits – ringing her as many as 93 times in a single day. He had also threatened to turn up at her children’s play centre and stab himself in front of everyone, and told her he would “make sure she loses everything” by spreading rumours she was ill-treating her children.
Released and straight back to offending
Prosecutor Sian Cutter told the court the pair had been in a relationship for around six months before it ended due to Samuel’s jealousy. Following his release from prison in March 2025, he “almost immediately” made contact with the woman again despite the restraining order in place. The court heard the woman initially did not object to the contact and at times had been the one to reach out to Samuel.
However, after she made clear she wanted nothing more to do with him, Samuel launched a fresh campaign of harassment. He called her from withheld numbers up to 75 times in a single day, sent a barrage of messages, contacted her on Facebook, and set up multiple TikTok accounts under different names so he could follow and message her. He also telephoned police pretending to be the woman’s cousin to report concerns for her welfare, and attended the school her children go to while wearing a balaclava.
Threats and arrests
During the course of the stalking, Samuel made a series of threats including telling the woman he would throw a brick through her window and that he was going to murder her. In one message he told her: “You are mine. You will always be mine.”
The matter was reported to police in October and Samuel was arrested. He answered “no comment” to all questions in interview and was released on bail with a condition not to contact his ex-partner – but carried on regardless. When the woman changed her phone, Samuel obtained her new number and resumed calling and texting from withheld numbers. In one call, he told her “there was nothing she could say or do to make him leave her alone”.
He was arrested again in January and once more gave “no comment” responses throughout his interview.
Victim impact
In a statement read to the court, the victim said she now struggles to sleep and feels she is constantly being “watched” whenever she leaves the house, yet does not feel safe at home either. She said she is on antidepressant medication and had been left feeling “frightened and powerless”.
Defence and sentencing
David Singh, representing Samuel, said pre-sentence and psychiatric reports detailed the defendant’s “difficult background” and the impact this had on his ability to form appropriate relationships. While those circumstances did not justify what he described as his client’s “inexcusable behaviour”, they provided context. He acknowledged Samuel had made things worse through his use of drink and drugs, and said the defendant has two young children and recognises he must change or risk losing meaningful contact with them.
Judge Paul Thomas KC told Samuel: “You are an extremely jealous, very immature man who simply needs to grow up. Above that, I think you are potentially a risk to any woman who you are in a relationship with. The court has a duty to protect women. The only way it can do that is to keep you out of the way.”
Samuel received a three-year prison sentence for stalking and two years and three months for the restraining order breach, to run concurrently. A one-quarter discount was applied for his guilty pleas. He will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence. The existing restraining order will remain in place until 2029.
