A man bombarded a Wiltshire journalist with more than 160 phone calls over a five-hour period in an attempt to have a court story removed from the internet.
Appearing before Swindon Magistrates’ Court yesterday (28 September), 36-year-old Craig Deyager pleaded guilty to harassing Daniel Jae Webb on 19 February 2021.
Crown prosecutor Natalie Cheeseman said the defendant, of Affleck Close, Toothill, began making phone calls to the Wiltshire 999s journalist just 25 minutes after he had published a story titled Swindon man sentenced after admitting driving under the influence of cannabis.
The story was based on a Wiltshire Police press release that stated Deyager had been disqualified from using the roads for 36 months after being convicted of drug driving.
In total, the defendant made more than 160 phone calls over a five-hour period and sent several text messages to his victim despite being asked to stop a number of times.
In one of the text messages, he threatened to publish Mr Webb’s address online so that ‘everybody you’ve p**sed off is going to have it’. Though it later transpired that Deyager did not have his address.
As Ms Cheeseman read out the details of the case, District Judge Joanna Dickens halted her midway through ‘stating that it appears this offence sits in the high-level community order bracket’.
“Yes, I agree, it’s at least a community order”, Ms Cheeseman agreed. “There will be an application for a restraining order”, she added.
Defending, Gordon Hotson said his client has#d become aware of the article on social media by way of messages (being sent to him) about the fact he was the subject of a news item.
“He tried to ring Mr Webb directly on the mobile telephone on his Facebook page. The defendant himself accepts he was excessive and acted over the top”, he told the court.
Judge Dickens asked: “Was there anything about the story that was incorrect, was it true and accurate?”
Mr Hotson replied: “Nothing was factually inaccurate as far as I can establish.
“The defendant himself, as you can see, is disabled [foot injury], he does suffer from anxiety, and at the time, several weeks before, his grandmother was cremated and he was in a very bad place.
“There are issues to explore, but I place this in the high community bracket madam, as an A2 case.”
Judge Dickens ordered an all-options pre-sentence report, adjourning the case until November for sentencing.
