A stalker bombarded his ex partner with hundreds of unwanted messages and chillingly told her 'if I can't have you no-one else will".
Paul McManaman, 52, and his ex partner, who the ECHO has chosen not to name, separated due to his “excessive drinking”, “anger issues” and jealousy.
Prosecutor Anthony O’Donohoe told Liverpool Crown Court how on one occasion McManaman, of Hale Court, Widnes, sent her videos and messages saying he was “torching” her possessions.
On this occasion police were contacted but no action was taken.
After the relationship ended in July 2019, McManaman “made her life a misery” and threatened to sabotage her job and her family ties and to kill himself.
He sent messages saying “If I can’t have you, no-one else will” and “If I find out you’re with someone I will do you both in”.
Others said “It’s me or no-one, the minute someone crosses that doorstep I’m going to do you both in”.
On his victim’s birthday in 2020, he sent a birthday card made to his “ex-wife” and 45 WhatsApp messages.
Then later last year on July 1, his victim received 100 missed calls, 350 voicemails and 93 texts from McManaman’s phone.
The threatening messages included "It's only going to get worse for you", "I'll be walking down Hale Gate Road if you want to call (the police)", and "your little doorbell will be going as well".
his messages became “angrier in tone” and at 5.45pm a motion sensor on the woman's doorbell CCTV alerted her to someone outside her home in Hale Village.
"She realised the electricity supply had gone"
Mr O’Donohoe described the chilling moment.
He said: “It triggered the app on her mobile phone but it wouldn’t display as usual.
“She realised the electricity supply had gone and thought it was a power cut.
“She checked the feed but it wasn’t working.
“She checked the motion sensor history and saw the defendant approach - he had an angry look on his face and seemed to smash towards the doorbell with possibly a glasses case.
“He grabbed the doorbell and the footage ended.”
She rang the police “in a state of panic and crept upstairs”.
Police found two cuts had severed the CCTV system wire, and located a knife in the garden.
When arrested, McManaman admitted damaging the doorbell and having a knife but “asserted he picked it up in the street”.
Then, in September, he sent threatening messages to his ex partner's friend telling her “don’t you start or you will get a visit”.
Despite being served a non-molestation order by St Helens Family Court in August, McManaman sent his ex a message on December 23 asking her to see if she would let him drop off some Chinese food and presents for the children, and made contact again on December 31.
He then emailed her three times with emotionally manipulative messages on January 25, 2021, telling her “best I can hope is two years, nice one, done my best for you” and “why are you doing this to me, you know how much I love you and the kids”, and “why would you f*** me over, you know how much I love you and the kids, two years I’ve been offered, better than the five to 10 f***ing hell, I’ve done everything to protect you, left you money and you’ve put me in jail, nice one hope you’re proud of yourself”.
McManaman was arrested and remanded into custody.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of stalking causing fear of violence, alarm or distress; having a bladed article; malicious communications; and two non-molestation order breaches.
McManaman had five previous convictions for nine offences including racially aggravated assault and two of assaulting a constable.
Defendant "lost his eye" in street attack
In a victim impact statement the woman said she had been “extremely distressed” by her former partner and kept her blinds and curtains shut to avoid being seen by him.
Michael Davies, defending, said McManaman had experienced a “difficult” time and had lost his job and home in the aftermath, and had also lost an eye after being attacked in the street in Liverpool in July.
He said McManaman had completed various courses in custody to address issues around alcohol, cocaine relapse, anger and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), having been “damaged” by his presence at the Hillsborough disaster.
He asked for credit for McManaman’s guilty pleas and highlighted the harsher conditions of being in prison during a pandemic, and suggested the sentence could be suspended.
Alcohol had been a problem for his client.
Mr Davies said: “His drinking was, in the complainant’s eyes, a significant part of his behavioural problems and he does accept that drink has been a problem and it’s something he’s got to deal with.”
He added that McManaman “does want to be a father to his children”, and the defence barrister showed the judge two birthday cards written by them for his client.
Judge Denis Watson QC, passed consecutive sentences on the separate sets of charges for before and after the molestation order and placed the incident involving the knife and doorbell CCTV system in the higher category.
He sentenced McManaman to two years and eight months in prison to be served immediately.
Judge Watson told him he had “subjected (his victim) to conduct where you were jealous, controlling, you used emotional blackmail” as they separated and then after the split had turned up at her home on her birthday.
He said: “She was trying to get on with her life without you.
“You visited her home when she didn’t want you there.
“You altered a birthday card in an aggressive way by adding the words ‘ex’ - ‘to my ex-wife’.
“The card was intended to distress her which was followed up through the course of the day with 45 WhatsApp messages.
“You were effectively communicating to her that you would not leave her alone.”
He added: “You bombarded her, that’s no exaggeration or use of hyperbole, with 100 mobile calls, 350 voicemails, 93 text messages.”
A statutory surcharge was ordered.
McManaman, who held his head in his hands as he was sentenced, let loose a short stream of abuse when he was led down to the cells.
A custody picture of McManaman has not yet been released by Cheshire Police, following his sentence.
