Stalker told his ex in Carlisle: 'I'm going to kill you'

The woman’s terrifying ordeal following her acrimonious break-up with 30-year-old Alex Butler was outlined at Carlisle Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to a stalking offence over four months last year.

Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson said the couple were in a relationship from October 2020 and while it initially went well things went downhill from Christmas of that year.

Arguments flared up between the two, including about her job, at times prompting her leave the room, said Mr Rogerson. As the relationship soured, Butler began making claims about a house she owned in Bower Street.

“He developed the idea somehow that she owed him £24,000 and he commenced civil proceedings for the recovery of that money,” said the prosecutor.

Butler continued making unpleasant accusations about the woman and repeatedly asked for the money. When she gave him 30 days’ notice to leave the house, his reply was to tell her she now owed him £25,000.

It was after this, said Mr Rogerson, that Butler began sending a series of disturbingly threatening messages. One read: “There is nothing left of me.

“You have stolen everything – even my will to breathe. You do realise that I am going to kill you eventually.” He repeated the threat to murder her, saying it would not take long.

This was not a threat, he said.

Mr Rogerson outlined also how Butler set up fake social media accounts so he could continue sending her threatening messages and demanding money after she blocked him.

She was so upset that she had to take six months off work. Even while he was at the police station, he openly threatened to kill her in front of a nurse.

The woman began avoiding the city centre in case she met Butler and she carried her phone with her everywhere, with the 999 number always readily available just in case.

Jeff Smith, for Butler, said he now accepted that the relationship was over and he no longer posed a threat to the woman. Though not diagnosed, the defendant was thought to be on the autistic spectrum, the court heard.

Butler believed himself to be the victim, added Mr Smith.

Recorder Julian Shaw told Butler that his behaviour between July 19 and November 24 last year was “thoroughly unpleasant” and “frightening.”

The judge said: “You can’t behave like that and expect anyone to have sympathy for you, Mr Butler, mental health difficulties or not.. You must understand that you must behave yourself and moderate your relationships with other people.”

The judge noted Butler, who shook his head during parts of the hearing, had expressed no remorse and his previous offending included battery of another former partner and harassment

The judge imposed two years’ jail, suspended for two years. Butler, now of Ashville Road, Wallasey, Merseyside, must complete 25 rehabilitation activity days and a curfew between 9pm and 6am.

Recorder Shaw also imposed a lifetime restraining order, banning any contact with the victim. Nor can Butler go to the two Carlisle streets she has links to.

* The defendant's basis of plea - accepted by the prosecution - included him believing he suffers from an autistic spectrum syndrome; his belief that he was owed £24,000 by the victim; and his admission that his attempts to enforce that debt were inappropriate and that this amounted to harassment and he should have know this would have made her fear violence.