A ROYAL Navy sailor from Teignmouth tried to sabotage his ex-partner’s new relationship by sending friends intimate images which he took when they were together.
Dean Norey wanted to persuade her new boyfriend that the videos and photos had only just been made in an attempt to make it look as if she was cheating on him.
It failed because she had changed her hair colour since they split up and it was obvious that they were old images.
He also harassed her by spying her home and sending her a picture of her new boyfriend’s car parked outside to spook her. She was left distraught by the knowledge that others had seen the private videos.
Plymouth-based Norey, aged 34, of Gloucester Road, Teignmouth, admitted harassment and was ordered to do 15 days of rehabilitation activities and pay £200 costs by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court.
He made a two year restraining order banning further contact and told Norey that this was a ‘classic case of controlling behaviour’ and that he should ‘get over himself’.
The judge said: “It was wholly wrong to show these things to anyone else, even more so when the clear purpose was to cause her distress and to get back at her for having the temerity to get out of the relationship with you.
‘She was entirely entitled to do what she wanted with her life after splitting up with you. She was mortified and felt humiliated. As she put it, you simply wanted to hurt her.’
Mr Ed Bailey, prosecuting, said Norey took the still and moving images during a relationship which lasted seven years but used them without her permission after she ended it in June 2020.
He met a friend of hers in the Double Locks pub in Exeter and showed her some of the material, which he claimed he had filmed since she started a new relationship with another man in August.
He sent similar material to a friend of her new partner in the hope of creating the suspicion that she was cheating on him. He told a friend that he did not want to get back with her but did not want anyone else to have her.
The ploy failed because her hair style and colour had changed in the 18 months since the videos were filmed. He also messaged a mutual friend of her new partner, describing her as ‘this toxic woman’. Norey continued to contact her until she went to the police in December 2021
Mr William Parkhill, defending, said Norey has been in the Royal Navy for 14 years and is likely to face their own disciplinary procedures, which may be a fine or a temporary bar on promotion.
He said Norey does not accept he was aggressive towards his ex-partner. He said he has no previous convictions and is a man of positive good character who has served his country.