A STALKER was able to phone his victim from prison because officials accepted his false claim that the number was his mum’s.

Carlisle Crown Court heard how Kirkbride man Allan Mattinson, 27, repeatedly made unwanted contact with the woman over a six-month period, between November 1 last year and May 3 this year.

He later admitted stalking.

But a judge refused to sentence the defendant after he accused his victim of inviting him for a 'romantic weekend' break in Blackpool in March - half-way through the six-months of his stalking behaviour.

If that was true, said Recorder Samantha Presland, the defendant’s offence could be considered less serious.

She ordered both the prosecution and the defence to investigate whether the allegation was supported by evidence, particularly telephone evidence.

Barrister Wayne Jackson had earlier outlined the prosecution version of events. He said Mattinson had been in a casual, 'on-off' relationship with he woman he had admitted stalking.

Outlining the background, he said that in 2019, the defendant was given a jail term for harassing another ex-partner.

Social media messages that he posted about that former partner prompted the second partner – the woman he later stalked – to end their relationship.

They did get back together but this time, said Mr Jackson, the woman felt Mattinson was more controlling. After this, they broke up for the final time, the court heard.

“He started to contact her repeatedly,” said Mr Jackson, referring to 140 WhatApp messages. “He told her he was going to wake her every hour.” He also went to her place of work and banged on the windows.

He told the woman he was going to kill himself; and he turned up at her home, throwing stones at her windows.

On May 2, said Mr Jackson, Mattinson, followed her in a car as she was driving, with the two vehicles ending up stationary at a junction.

“He reached out of his driver’s side window and opened the passenger-side door of her car,” said the prosecutor. “He yelled that she owed him money.

“She drove away to the police station.”

Even after he was locked up on May 4, Mattinson continued to stalk the woman. "She got a call from Durham Prison, saying that someone was trying to contact her," said Mr Jackson.

"The defendant had provided her number to the prison, saying it was his mum's. It was a ruse to get through to her again."

'A difficult start in life'

But Jeff Smith, defending, said Mattinson, from Kirkbride, near Carlisle, accepted the relationship was over. The defendant had a difficult start in life: when just eight years old, his father died, while his mother sought solace in alcohol.

Recorder Presland said the defendant suffered attachment issues after a childhood in which his mother was not there when he desperately needed her to be.

Via his video link from prison, Mattinson told the judge that the woman he stalked had invited him to go away to Blackpool three or four weeks before he was arrested for the current offence.

The judge told him the issue needed to be investigated, saying: “This is not an open door for victim blaming; it’s just to establish whether there was reciprocation.”

She said efforts should be made to check the defendant’s phone, currently in a car being used by one of his friends, to see if it had evidence of her inviting him to go away to Blackpool.

The victim will also be asked whether that is true, said the judge. She adjourned the case until July 22 and remanded Mattinson in custody until that day.