Builder, 42, convicted of stalking and crashing car in 100mph police chase on M55 in Blackpool jailed

A violent bully who stalked his ex-girlfriend after accusing her of carrying on behind his back has been jailed by a judge.

Gary Kennedy damaged the woman’s house and then crashed his car in a 100mph bid to escape from police.

The 42-year-old plasterer from Blackpool pleaded guilty to stalking over a 12-day period, burglary and dangerous driving and was sent to prison for two-and-a-half years.

He was also banned from driving for almost four years and ordered to pass an extended test before he can get behind the wheel again.

During the hearing at Preston Crown Court, Kennedy interrupted the judge to say: “I found out the woman I love was on an adult site (internet). That’s why I did it.

“We were making a future life together and she was doing things behind my back. I know it was wrong, but I was hurt by her actions.”

The court was told the pair had been in a relationship for between six and eight months up to May this year. At first things were going well, but then she began to notice issues developing between them.

It came to a head in mid-May and Kennedy ended the relationship. But a week-and-a-half later he began bombarding her with messages saying he missed her.

He then started being unpleasant, sending her abusive messages and calling her a “f***ing slag”.

One day he went round to her house and started hammering on the front door. He then kicked it so hard he broke the lock, meaning it couldn’t be opened.

He shouted: “I know you’re in there.” He threw things onto the roof and tipped over her wheelie bins. The woman’s seven-year-old daughter was in the house at the time and was said to be “absolutely terrified”.

Kennedy went round to the back of the house, kicked the gate and smashed up the shed. A video caught him shouting she would “get what’s coming to her”.

One day she went out but, because the front door was broken and she had lost the key to the back door, she had to leave the house unlocked. Later he messaged her suggesting he had been into the housed and saying it was “a mess” and he would get her child taken off her.

On May 28 he went to the house again and stood outside the window shouting: “You are a f***ing slag”. He threw a bottle of beer at the window and it smashed. When she came out to confront him, he hit her in the face causing her to fall to the ground.

He then threw a fence panel through another window. She fled and went to stay at a friend’s house. When she returned the following morning she found more windows had been smashed.

That day there were a large number of messages and missed calls on her phone. The messages switched from being abusive to loving and back again.

Later police were alerted to a car which was suspected of being driven by a man under the influence of drugs. The vehicle was spotted on the M6 northbound near Preston and turned onto the M55 westbound towards Blackpool.

Police followed and at one point on the M55 the car, with Kennedy at the wheel, was clocked at more than 105mph. The patrol officer activated his lights and siren but the car carried on at high speed.

Kennedy quickly exited the motorway at Kirkham and drove along Fleetwood Road, travelling at 80mph in a 40mph area and then 100 in a 50 zone.

Eventually he tried to take a bend at speed and lost control, narrowly avoiding a collision with another car before crashing through a bollard, then a hedge and into a field.

Dashcam footage from the other car was played in court to show how near to a devastating collision the two vehicles had come.

The court heard Kennedy, of Nethway Avenue, Blackpool, was currently serving a prison sentence for stalking another woman between February and June last year. He appeared in court via a video link from HMP Preston.

Defence barrister Jack Troup told the court his client had suffered a brain injury as a child and it had left him with mental health issues. He was short-tempered and “not able to process things when he is in difficult situations”.

“It is a long-standing issue for him in relationships. When things go wrong he lashes out.” He had also misused heroin in the past.

“It would be in the interests of justice and particularly people in the future when he gets released to be given a coping mechanism to be able to deal with things like rejection.”

Judge Paul Hodgkinson told Kennedy: “You are 42. You have an absolutely dreadful record of previous convictions. A large number relate to your inability to conduct yourself (properly) in relationships with the opposite sex.”

He said that in the burglary offence there had been two victims – his ex-partner and her child who had been left terrified by his actions.

Kennedy, he said, had realised his “powerlessness” and had been unable to keep control. “You exposed her (his ex) to your insecurity by trying to make her feel worse than you. How embarrassing for a man.

“There are a significant number of offences of domestic violence by you on other partners.”

He said that during his dangerous driving he had narrowly avoided a collision “with an innocent road-user”. He had travelled at double the speed limit during what was a “prolonged and persistent” police chase.

“You undertook a highly dangerous manoeuvre with complete disregard for the rules of the road and (other) road-users.”

In total he sentenced Kennedy to 30 months in prison, saying he had “dreadful” previous convictions and that only an immediate custodial sentence was justified.

Judge Hodgkinson made him the subject of a restraining order barring him from having any contact with his ex-girlfriend for the next five years. He also banned him from driving for 46 months.