Offender Harassed His Probation Officer With Intimate Internet Searches Of Her Life

An offender harassed his probation officer by revealing to her a large amount of personal information he had gathered both on herself and her immediate family with meticulous online searches.

Simon Mott, 53, of Seely Road, Tooting had followed the twitter accounts of the officer's parents; had researched her education; had a photograph of her and a photo of her family's home.

He pleaded guilty to harassing Leanne Packham between May 17 and 22 at the Wimbledon Probation Services's HQ at Martin Harknett House.

Wimbledon Magistrates Court heard Ms Packham was an acting senior probation officer and had an interview with Mott on May 17.

When she quizzed him about what he was doing to find work jobless Mott snapped: “I'm not willing to tell you anything about that.”

He then brought up her family, adding: “You need to ask your dad about what's appropriate. Your dad tweets daily about Southern Rail.”

The court heard: “He made a comment about her being an 'acting' probation officer and said: “It's been a tough ride for you to get here.”

Mott then produced an A4-sized print-out of her 2011 college and night school courses, plus a legal executive course and a photo of her. “She had no idea where that photo came from,” said the prosecutor.

“She was feeling extremely shocked and distressed about the amount of personal information he had about her.

“He said he was aware she had previously been rejected as a probation officer and was using that fact to intimidate her and undermine her authority.

“She was distressed by how much he knew about her and that he knew she had two sisters, a mother in the alcohol industry that drank gin and lived in Haywards Heath.

“He had accessed all that from the family's various twitter accounts.”

Mott produced more A4 pages, plus a photo of the home Ms Packham had grown up in for twenty years.

“She did not know if the defendant had travelled to the address and he told her the train she catches and the fact she claimed compensation for a delay – a fact she had tweeted in 2015.

Mott, who has previously served a prison sentence and is subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, only pleaded guilty to the offence on the day of the trial, arguing all the information he obtained was freely available on the internet.

His lawyer told the court: “He feels all the information is in the public domain, but accepts it was wrong to do this at her place of work.”

The District Judge announced: “This was obviously a very unpleasant experience for the victim.”

Mott received 10 weeks imprisonment, suspended for twelve months and was ordered to pay £200 costs, plus a £115 surcharge.

He was also made subject to a restraining order, prohibiting contact with Ms Packham and her family.