Man jailed for 'awful' harassment of colleague

A mental health worker who plagued a colleague with phone calls and messages for almost a year has been jailed for 22 months.

Andrew Boyle, 40, told his victim he refused to take no for an answer after she rejected his demand to go for a drink with him, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The woman, who worked with Boyle at Roseberry Park Hospital in Middlesbrough, said her life had been devastated by Boyle's campaign and she would always be looking over her shoulder in the future.

Boyle, of Ettington Avenue in Middlesbrough, denied stalking but on the day of his trial admitted an alternative charge of putting a person in fear of violence by harassment.

Boyle was a healthcare assistant and student nurse when he started messaging the woman on Facebook in March 2022 and initially there was nothing untoward, prosecutor Nicci Horton said, with the victim of the view he was trying to make friends.

On 20 August that year he asked if she wanted go for a drink but she declined, reminding Boyle she was in a happy and stable relationship, the court heard.

Boyle responded with a voice note in which he said: "I don't think you realise I am Andy Boyle, I've never had a no in my life."

She continued to reject his advances and, after multiple messages, including some in which he called her "rude and ignorant", Boyle told her: "I won't accept a no."

The woman blocked him on Facebook and rejected his requests to follow her on other social media platforms so he started contacting her through her work email, the court heard.

The woman was also bombarded with silent phone calls from unidentified numbers for several months, Ms Horton said.

He also swapped shifts to make sure he was on duty when she was, made utterly fabricated complaints about her work conduct and spread fake rumours about her having relationships with other colleagues, the court heard.

In February 2023, the woman reported what was happening to her managers and police and asked he be warned to leave her alone.

Despite multiple warnings from police, he continued to message the woman and was eventually arrested in July 2023, almost a year after he first started harassing the woman.

The woman told the court her entire life had changed as a result of Boyle and he had damaged both her personal and professional relationships.

She said she lived in fear of Boyle and even now did not believe he would stop completely, adding: "I will always be looking over my shoulder in future."

In mitigation, Nigel Soppitt said Boyle had seen the "error of his ways" and had no intention of contacting the woman again.

Judge Advocate Thomas Mitchell said Boyle's conduct was "awful and appalling" and had had a "terrible" impact on the woman, adding: "She didn't deserve any bit of that whatsoever."

A restraining order banning Boyle from contacting the woman or attending her place of work was also made to last indefinitely, with Judge Mitchell warning him breaching that could see him jailed for up to five years.

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