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Monday 13 May 2013

'True stalker' former footballer drove ex-girlfriend to brink of suicide


A former professional footballer stalked his ex-girlfriend after she refused to go on a lavish holiday with him, a court heard.

Matthew Ghent, 32, a former goalkeeper for Aston Villa and England’s youth teams, booked the break after the couple ended their six-month relationship.
Ghent, who posted pictures of himself online in a bath full of £20 notes, bombarded the probation officer with emails and text messages after she refused to accompany him
He only left when her concerned colleagues threatened to phone the police, who had already given Ghent a harassment warning.
In an emotional witness statement, the 30-year-old victim told a court she was receiving counselling and had considered suicide.
She also disclosed how her life had "changed beyond recognition" and was planning to quit her job and move abroad.

Ghent bombarded the probation officer with 70 emails and text messages in 15 days after the six-month relationship ended in May last year.
Northampton magistrates' court was told that Ghent booked the holiday for the couple after they had split up and then turned up at her work on July 18 last year.
He admitted harassing his ex-girlfriend but was handed a ten-week suspended prison sentence last week.

He was also given a restraining order banning him from contacting the victim and ordered to pay the victim £750 compensation as well as £135 costs.
Sentencing Ghent, from Tamworth, Staffs., Deputy District Judge Elizabeth Harte branded the former goalkeeper a "true stalker".
"This was an exceptionally unpleasant case of true stalking behaviour. This is exactly the kind of behaviour that this law was designed to combat," she said.
"I have been made aware of the very profound effect that this behaviour has had on the victim's life.
"This is not the first time you have been convicted of an offence like this and you have a previous reocrd that shows you have engaged in this type of behaviour before. If you fail to moderate your behaviour, you will go to prison for a long time."
Julia Barnett, prosecuting, told the court Ghent had been "very controlling" during the couple's turbulent relationship.
Ghent mounted the campaign of harassment when the victim refused to go on a holiday he had booked behind her back after they had split up.
The court heard he sent 70 texts and emails between July 10 and July 25 last year - and even deposited money into his ex's online Paypal account.
Ghent, who now sells hair and beauty products online, formerly played for Aston Villa and England but left the Midlands club without making a first-team appearance.
He later turned out for Barnsley, Lincoln City, Solihull Moors and Tamworth.
In a witness statement to the court, Ghent's victim said: "I have gone from being a safe independent and confident woman to someone who is constantly looking over their shoulder.
"I have never felt so trapped and isolated while in the relationship.
"Everything I did and said was in an effort to placate Matthew and to avoid situations of confrontation and aggression.
"I was downtrodden and broken, lacking confidence and spark and I always seemed vacant and distracted."
Mark Moore, defending, said he had suffered difficulties since the end of his football career.
He said: "He accepts he sent a number of emails and messages but they were not threatening in nature.
"He has suffered from difficulties since his career end but he has always participated fully in course ordered by the courts.
"There is now a degree of openness about his behaviour which is perhaps more difficult to admit in the macho world he is from."
In 2006, Ghent was jailed for three months for attacking and then stalking his then girlfriend Maria Morris.
The violent goalie kicked her in the stomach when she was pregnant with their child and throttled her because he didn't like the way she decorated the Christmas tree.
Ghent frightened the mother-of-two into staying with him by threatening to slit her mum's throat if she left and smashed her windscreen if she tried to get in her car.

Source: telegraph

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