Victim felt ‘hunted’ by threatening messages sent by Luton man who thought he was ‘untouchable’

A man, who tried to strangle his former partner, has been sent to prison for breaching a restraining order with a barrage of threatening messages that made the victim feel “hunted”, a court has heard.

Mark Martin, aged 28, of Guildford Street in Luton, appeared at Northampton Crown Court on Tuesday, April 11 after pleading guilty to two counts of breaching a restraining order.

Quiana Fitzpatrick, prosecuting, said the restraining order had been implemented after Martin severely assaulted the victim – his ex partner – by attempting to strangle her, biting her face, kicking her ribs, locking her in a wardrobe and throwing water at her.

Martin was subsequently convicted of ABH and the victim moved to Kettering to escape him.

Despite the victim telling Martin not to contact her, he proceeded to reach out to her around 300 times through email, phone calls, WhatsApp, X-Box Live and Skype between October 2022 and January 2023.

Some messages came across as caring and affectionate, saying he missed and loved her. In other messages, he called the victim a “tramp,” told her no one wants her, he’s “done with life” and she should not bother coming to his funeral.

The court heard that he even taunted the victim about her unwell mother and threatened to send an intimate video to her.

In a statement, the victim said that she used to be a “bubbly and happy person” but she is now a “shadow” of herself and Martin has ruined her life.

She said she felt “hunted” by Martin’s constant threats and persistent pursuit – even contacting friends and family members to get to her.

The victim said she is “petrified” of how it will all end because Martin keeps getting away with short and suspended prison sentences.

“He has been nicknamed ‘Smirkles’ because he always has this sly smirk because he believes he is untouchable,” she added.

Jonathan Rosen, in mitigation, said a psychiatric report found the defendant acts unexpectedly without considering the consequences of his actions and has high dependency needs.

The court heard that Martin suffers from depression and unstable personality disorder following childhood trauma and, at the time of offending, was off his medication.

Mr Rosen said: “He can be a loving and caring man and he does set out to be that.”

The defence barrister added that communication between the defendant and the victim was “both ways” with the victim providing her address to him before he turned up at her house the following month.

Martin now has plans to move to Newcastle, the court heard.

Her Honour Judge Rebecca Crane was repeatedly interrupted by Martin muttering “that’s not true” as she read aloud her sentencing remarks.

Admonishing him, Judge Crane said: “Mr Martin, I have asked you to be quiet. You have had your chance to speak.”

She continued: “In your pre-sentence report, you placed blame on [the victim]. I consider you to minimise your responsibility and fail to understand the impact of your behaviour.”

Martin was sentenced to two 30 month prison sentences for each breach of the restraining order, to be served concurrently.

His 12 month suspended sentence order was also activated, meaning he will serve a total of 42 months in prison.