A MAN who received one of Essex's first stalking protection orders has been jailed for his "campaign of harassment" against a woman.

Jack Powell, 29, received two 27-month concurrent sentences for breaching a non-molestation order at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday.

He received two 20-month sentences for further breaches of a non-molestation order, four months for stalking, three months for two counts of harassment and one count of stalking and assault by beating and two months for causing wasteful employment of police, all to run concurrently.

Powell was made subject to indefinite restraining orders and he has made been subject of a five-year stalking protection order.

Powell subjected a woman to harassment between January 1, 2019, and December 15.

The woman made numerous reports to the police which were investigated but fell short of the evidential standard to secure a prosecution.

Other agencies became involved to support the woman and in November, she took action by calling reporting this abuse and securing a non-molestation order through the courts.

Over a 11 month period, Powell’s behaviour caused serious alarm and distress and it had a substantial adverse effect on a woman’s usual day-to-day activities.

He posted multiple social media posts aimed at attacking her, there were threats to damage her car, there was malicious communications and there were unwanted emails and voice notes.

The abuse included sending unwanted flowers and fast food deliveries to her address, which she had to pay for, a false report to police and threats to harm himself.

Powell, of Tern Close, Mayland, even sent two letters from prison while he was on remand, he harassed people close to the woman and he assaulted a social worker who was trying to help him.

The victim of his harassment said: "At first I felt as though no one was listening to me and when the other side is telling you it’s your fault you really start to believe it is.

"I could never gather enough evidence, or I felt bad for my ex-partner every time he promised it would stop; it started again and got worse and worse.

"I finally could not take any more so with my amazing domestic violence worker and my supportive family and friends I decided I had to do something and thankfully Essex Police started listening to me because of Det Con Steven King.

"I am so grateful to everyone that helped me and did everything in their power to protect myself and my children.

"Domestic violence and mental abuse is one of the hardest situations I have ever been through and even harder to break the cycle but if anyone else is going through the same situation just keep fighting the truth always comes out in the end and make sure you don't stop until your heard.”

Det Con Steven King said Powell stalked and harassed a woman and people close to her over a sustained period of time.

He added: “There was a multi-agency approach to keep her safe, including moving her from different addresses.

“However, Powell’s was clearly on a campaign and used different tactics, including manipulation, to locate where she had moved to.

“The investigations into him consumed many months of work and has involved the efforts of all our teams in the area – including the domestic abuse teams in Clacton, Chelmsford and Colchester.

“I am extremely grateful for the assistance I received from everyone.

“This week a domestic abuser has been sent to prison and there are orders in place that will restrict his activities and movements once he is released.”

The Stalking Protection Order placed on Powell prohibits him from contacting the woman and other family members directly or indirectly, prohibits him from entering the woman’s address and locations she is residing and prohibits him from making reference to her on social media or creating any profiles on social media or on dating sites in the names of other people.

The order prohibits him from having a phone that he hasn’t declared to police or any device that can’t retain the history his internet use.

He must make his devices immediately available on request of police, he is banned from deleting any internet or chat history and he must give us access to social media accounts, phones, computers, tablets – including passwords and usernames – upon inspection.

Powell must give the exact location of any device he has used within 90 days which are not in his possession or control, he must inform the owner of any device he is about to use of his restrictions under the order and he must allow us access to his home upon request.

He must also give the details of any email address he has used or created within three days.