Man Sentenced to Over 3 Years in Prison after Barrage of Abuse

A man has been jailed for three years and eight months after pleading guilty to a barrage of abuse against a former partner.

Robbie Gibson, aged 20, formerly of Eddison Way in Hemlington, assaulted the woman numerous times, including with a metal pole, leaving her injured.

Following his initial arrest, he breached his bail by harassing her by phone 119 times and then continued to control and harass the victim by making a number of serious allegations about her including that she had broken his leg with a hammer and "threatened to kill him". These were found to be false and malicious, wasting hundreds of hours of police time and resulting in the victim being wrongly arrested.

Gibson was charged with a number of offences and remanded in custody. However, even after he went to prison he continued to terrorise the victim by repeatedly writing to her and making threats to harm her.

Gibson pleaded guilty to controlling and coercive behaviour, witness intimidation and numerous counts of perverting the course of justice. He was sentenced to 3 years and 8 months.

Detective Constable Shaun Townsend said: "This was a terrifying experience for the victim, who was not only assaulted by Robbie Gibson but was also subjected to controlling behaviour, harassment, threats and intimidation. She was even put in a police cell whilst enquiries were made into numerous allegations against her which turned out to be false and malicious.

"Abuse of this kind will not be tolerated and thanks to the woman's bravery in coming forward and the police investigation which followed, Gibson is now rightly behind bars, where he will spend a significant amount of time for his continued torment of his victim.

"I hope this sentence goes some way towards bringing some comfort to her and hope she can now begin to move forward with her life."

Image of Robbie Gibson above