Northampton man imprisoned after calling ex-partner up to 130 times in a day

A Northampton man has been sentenced to 15 months in prison after inundating his former partner with calls up to 130 times in a day.

Kyle Smith, aged 27, of Junction Road, appeared at Northampton Crown Court on Wednesday, September 21 after pleading guilty to two counts of breaching a restraining order and one count of possessing Class B drugs.

The court heard that a restraining order was imposed indefinitely between Smith and a former partner in March 2020, following a history of domestic violence.

Lucia Harrington, prosecuting, said Smith served 12 weeks imprisonment in August 2021 for breaching that restraining order as well as one count of criminal damage.

The court heard that Smith - from September 8 to September 9, 2021 - then made 80 calls to his former partner’s phone from prison.

Ms Harrington said the complainant answered some of the calls but would place herself on mute and leave the phone on the side as Smith “ranted” and she carried on with whatever she was doing at the time.

The court heard that on June 24, 2022 Smith contacted the complainant again when he was released from prison asking her how she was.

The following day, he contacted her further asking her what she was doing and where she was. He then called her a “whore,” the court heard.

Ms Harrington said the complainant would receive between two and 20 calls a day from Smith on a withheld number between June 25 to July 17, 2022.

Liam Muir, in mitigation, told the court that the complainant still contacted Smith a “fair amount” and told the court that, whilst Smith contacted her around 130 times on July 6, 2022, the complainant contacted him between 50 and 60 times.

The defence barrister also pointed out that, in order for the complainant to have received calls from prison, she had to accept to be put onto his call log.

Mr Muir said that Smith pleaded guilty to all offences at the first opportunity and added: “This is a young man who is desperate to get his life back on track.”

Smith was arrested on August 30, 2022; he has 42 previous convictions for 76 offences, including robbery and repeated breaches of court orders.

His Honour Judge David Herbert KC, in his sentencing remarks said: “Your messages were unpleasant and they were designed to cause distress and they did so.”

Referring to Smith’s former partner, Judge Herbert added: “She described some sleep loss and being scared of you and feeling effectively drained by your repeated contact with her.”

Smith was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment for the first breach of the restraining order and a further five months for the second breach to be served consecutively. There was no separate penalty imposed for the charge relating to possession of Class B drugs.

Smith was sentenced to a total of 15 months in custody.