A 61-year-old man has been sentenced in court for leaving a gay woman ‘petrified’ through homophobic text messages.
Lee Scattergood was handed a suspended 12-week prison sentence for threatening the life of a Bolton woman he believed had cost him his job with an estate agency.
Scattergood’s first threat was delivered in February this year, and he attempted to conceal his identity by making the message seem as if it was from a neighbour.
According to the Bolton News it read:
We ******* hate lesbians living round here especially fat ugly ones and with a ******* sprog ****** ruin the area well be warned we want you out and will do whatever it takes managed already to get your number keep checkin your brakes on that red tin can of yours ***** “
He also sent her a message saying ‘It’s getting close to the time that you will be made to pay.’
The woman told the court:
We had just brought a new baby home and it should have been a really happy time and the threats and worry that it caused absolutely ruined it.The content made me feel petrified.”
Detective Inspector Charlotte Cadden said:
The impact of this unknown person texting this stuff to them just had a massive impact on their life. They upgraded their security and even moved out of the family home for a bit.
It really turned their lives upside down.
Scattergood admitted in police interview that he knew it would cause a lot of distress.
It was definitely done to play with people’s psychological wellbeing.”
Alongside his suspended sentence Scattergood will undertake 180 hours of unpaid work, also paying his victim £500 compensation plus court costs.
No place for that kind of behaviour in 2015. What a monumental nob.
