Man jailed for texts sent despite ban

A man who breached a restraining order by visiting and texting a woman he had been told to stay away from has been jailed for two years.

Jamie McKinley, 35, was cleared of an allegation of raping the woman but admitted he had been in contact with her – despite a warning from the court to stay away.

Sentencing McKinley, of General Street, North Shore, to two years and 12 weeks behind bars, Judge Graham Knowles QC described the painter and decorator as “utterly controlling.”

By contrast, he said the woman was “immensely vulnerable.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“He had her over a barrel and could do whatever he wanted,” the judge added.

Preston Crown Court heard McKinley – who has a history of violence against women – was handed the two year restraining order August 2014 after he attacked the woman.

But in November last year he was in regular text message contact with his victim and visited her at her home.

The court heard the woman – who can not be identified for legal reasons – had instigated the contact, but Judge Knowles QC said: “It is the responsibility of the offender, not the victim, to ensure the order is complied with.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He added: “The order was to protect this woman from herself as much as this defendant.

“The fact she was so submissive allowed him to go behind the backs of the authorities.

“The defendant never had the slightest interest in the fact the court had made an order; only an interest in what he wanted to do.”

McKinley has 46 offences on his record, including a number for violence and harassment, which the judge said aggravated the case.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However he accepted the defendant had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity to two counts of breaching a protective order – although it was clear the pair had been in contact on numerous occasions while the order was in force.