A man has been jailed after a campaign of abuse targeting an elderly relative.
John Redfern, 56, pleaded guilty to common assault and coercive control and was sentenced to 12 months in prison at a Nottingham Crown Court hearing on Wednesday, July 22.
The sentence came after PC Laura Sunderland spotted a pattern of behaviour following an incident on June 29.
Officers were called to a report that Redfern had threatened an elderly relative.
Redfern, of the Stapleford area, was arrested on suspicion of common assault and taken to the Bridewell Custody Suite.
Once there, the officer dealing with the case looked through police records and noticed more than 20 similar reports had been made to police about Redfern in the previous two years.
Because people can only usually be held for 24 hours when arrested, PC Sunderland had just a few hours to compile the evidence to show that Redfern had been a perpetrator of coercive control so he could be charged.
PC Sunderland said: “When I looked at the case and saw so many calls where Redfern was really scaring a vulnerable person, I thought it amounted to coercive control.
“Before this incident, the victim had not wanted to pursue matters so I really wanted to make it count now they had decided that enough was enough.
"I went through all previous police incidents in order to present a case of controlling and coercive behaviour to the Crown Prosecution Service, which they decided to charge.
“I’m so pleased for the victim that Redfern has been put behind bars and will have to pay for his actions.
"No one should have to live in fear of a loved one.”
