Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Catholic church official who was ‘obsessed’ with ex-lover after she spurned his advances is handed a restraining order

A Catholic church official's obsessive behaviour towards a former lover has earned him a restraining order as a judge said he had never seen actions like it in his 40 year career.

Mark Hale, 51, carried out a sustained campaign of torment against ex-girlfriend Lynne Williams, who worked for him, where he sacked her and made sure she lost her next position.


He threatened to kill himself and sent her threatening letters.


She told Liverpool Magistrates she was 'scared and frightened for her children' in the wake of Hale's continued harassment.


On one occasion Hale sent his ex a copy of the film The War of the Roses, starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner as a couple in the grip of a bitter divorce, telling her: 'They kill each other in the end.'


A week after sacking Miss Williams, he called her to say he was going to jump off a motorway bridge.


She told the court: 'I told him to go home but I was concerned and tried to reassure him.


'He said it was my fault and I tried to explain to him that his daughter, who was 14, needed him, but he put the phone down and I called the police.'


Police went to Hale's house in Orrell, near Wigan in the early hours of May 4 last year, and found him safe and well.


Liverpool Magistrates Court heard that Hale went on to call Miss Williams nine or ten times, which made her switch off her phone.


He then sent a copy of James Blunt's Back to Bedlam album with a seven page letter enclosed, because a song on the album - Goodbye My Lover - reminded him of their break up.


Miss Williams worked for Hale, who was the chief executive of the Shrewsbury Diocese's community clubs subsidiary, as a manager at the St Joseph's Social Club in Wallasey, the Wirral.


He accused her of stealing money from the club after their relationship ended and conducted a disciplinary hearing against her.


He then bombarded her new employer with correspondence accusing Miss Williams of theft, which Miss Williams said made her lose her job as they had 'had enough' of the trouble Hale was causing.


The pair had a turbulent three year relationship which ended in 2010 after a Valentine's holiday to Egypt where she refused to have sex with him.


Hale was suspended by the church after Miss Williams raised a grievance against him. He then blamed her for 'vile and shameless allegations'.


After she lost her new job, he would bring food parcels marked with a red cross made from tape to her house, unprompted.


A letter demanded £4,500 repayment for a Renault Clio car Hale had bought for Miss Williams as well as a diamond ring he had given her when she was unemployed.


Prosecuter Sue Jones said: 'The defendant tried to control the claimant through punishment and rewards and his actions are bitter, resentful and malicious.'


Miss Williams told the court she sought to appease her angry former boyfriend by returning the gifts, and he accepted the return of the ring but not the car.


He wrote that he had 'spent thousands on her but would do it again because I love you'.


Hale operated the Shrewsbury Diocese Commercial Company from the church’s offices in Park Road South, Birkenhead, managing a string of parish clubs and institutes.


He faced a single charge under section two of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.


District judge Ableson ordered Hale to pay £250 costs and handed out a restraining order for his 'obsessive' and 'unjustified' actions.


He said: 'I used the word obsessed and I think you’ll agree. You really you should be ashamed of yourself. Some of the letters you wrote to her employers were disgraceful and there is no justification for that.'


He warned Hale that if he made contact with Miss Williams he would send him to jail.


The judge said: 'Don’t start by sending a memo or email or text saying ‘sorry about this, best of luck for the future. If you do that I will give you six months in jail.'


The judge told Miss Williams that the weakest part of her defence was allowing Hale back into her life after periods of absence when she was 'quite happy to contact him'.


Hale was also ordered not to contact a relative of Miss Williams whom he had never met.