Ollerton man harassed ex with roses and a ring

An Ollerton man who harassed his ex-partner by sending roses to the chip shop where she works also lurked outside her house and followed her home, a court heard.
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Jonathan Buchanan climbed over a fence into the woman’s back garden and begged her to listen to him, at 9.55pm, on February 12, four days after their relationship ended.

He left roses on the chip shop counter the next day, and was spotted driving past the restaurant and making a heart sign with his hands, said prosecutor Robert Carr.

“As she drove home with her ten-year-old daughter she had the feeling that she was being followed,” he said.

“As she pulled into her driveway she saw him in his car.

“He wound his window down and asked her to listen and talk to him. She replied that he wasn’t supposed to be near her.”

On Valentine’s Day a ring was delivered to her by a courier, with his name on the receipt.

The next day at 11pm, when she was expecting a visit from the police, she heard a knock at the door and heard Buchanan say “hello.”

On February 28, she was leaving home when he jumped out in front of her car.

Buchanan told her he knew he was going to get into trouble, and she tried to explain that she needed him to stop.

At 10am the next day she saw him hanging around outside her home, and had to get her brother to follow her to work.

“Mr Buchanan appeared next to her car and put his hands together as if he was begging,” said Mr Carr. “She drove off.”

The court heard the woman physically shakes when he is around.

“As a result she feels she is looking over her shoulder all the time,” Mr Carr added. “She wants him to leave her alone.”

Tim Haines, mitigating, said Buchanan, an IT worker with the NHS, denied an allegation of assault.

“He was hoping for a reconciliation,” he said. “He has health issues and was seeking comfort from her.

“Perhaps the penny dropped, when he was held in custody, that this relationship is well and truly at an end.”

Buchanan, 39, of Griffin Road, admitted harassment between February 12 and March 2, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on March 3.

He was fined £100, and ordered to pay £85 costs and an £85 government surcharge, but no compensation was ordered.

He was given an 18 month comunity order, with 30 sessions of the building better relationshiop programme.

He was banned from contacting the woman for 12 months, or going to her home address or her workplace.