IAIN WARD – NORTH TYNESIDE

2020 – Forest Hall man jailed after repeatedly breaching court orders protecting ex-partner

A man from Forest Hall has been jailed after a series of breaches that left his former partner living in constant fear.

Iain Ward, 44, had been given a suspended sentence and a five-year restraining order earlier in the year after he turned up at his ex-partner’s home carrying a Samurai sword and demanding to see her new partner. He had also previously received police cautions for harassment and malicious communications.

Despite these warnings and court sanctions, Ward continued to make unwanted contact. In August he breached the restraining order by phoning his ex, but the court gave him another chance to avoid custody.

However, the situation escalated again in October when Ward made multiple calls from withheld numbers, with his former partner recognising his voice. She told police the repeated contact had left her deeply distressed and unable to move on with her life, describing herself as “sick to death” of his continued behaviour.

After learning the police were investigating the latest breach, Ward eventually phoned 101 and reported himself. He later claimed that his ex had sometimes contacted him first.

Ward pleaded guilty to three breaches of the restraining order as well as breaching the terms of his suspended sentence. Newcastle Crown Court jailed him for 16 months, with the judge saying he posed a high risk of harm to the victim and had been given “numerous chances” to comply with the law.

The judge told him that the seriousness of the repeated breaches meant that only an immediate prison sentence was now appropriate.