During one confrontation, she punched him
A vindictive and angry woman launched a “torrent of abuse” against her ex-husband during a long-running “campaign of bullying” after their marriage fell apart. Amanda Johnson bombarded him with abusive and threatening text messages after she “lost all self-control” and her “nasty” behaviour escalated.
She suddenly punched him during one confrontation and her behaviour was “appalling” and “awful” towards him, Hull Crown Court heard. Johnson, 38, of Butterfly Meadows, Molescroft, Beverley, admitted stalking her ex-husband between September 1 last year and April 29 this year. She admitted assaulting him on March 8 this year.
Oliver Shipley, prosecuting, told an earlier hearing that Johnson and her husband were married in 2015 but they separated last year after he ended the relationship because of her behaviour towards him. She intended to make the separation “as difficult as it could possibly be” and launched a “campaign of bullying” against him.
She left his clothes and belongings outside the house after he left and she regularly screamed down the phone to him. Johnson made threats and shouted “cheating c***” to him.
She threw items at him and her behaviour “escalated even further and onto a much grander scale”. There were daily text messages with “name-calling and general hate”.
The ex-husband felt “distress, understandably so, from the constant messaging”. There were dozens of messages and a series of missed calls.
She hurled a “torrent of abuse” and they were persistent. “The defendant knew that this conduct was unwanted yet she persisted,” said Mr Shipley.
Johnson sent “sarcastic messages” in an attempt to make her ex-husband jealous but he told her that he had started a new relationship. “She embarked on a campaign of endless text messages and calls, demanding to know who the female was,” said Mr Shipley.
There were 25 missed calls and 67 text messages, with abusive comments. He hoped that she would come to her senses and stop but he later received 18 text messages and a missed call.
She later approached him while shouting and screaming and, without any warning, she punched him with a clenched fist on his arm. She later drove past his new girlfriend’s home at a slow speed.
Johnson posted a social media post saying: “Cheating, lying scum of the earth. Scum of the f***ing earth.” She made persistent efforts to contact him, despite knowing that it was unwanted.” No mitigation was requested but Johnson accepted that a restraining order was needed.
Judge Gurdial Singh said that Johnson committed “two nasty offences” after she struggled to accept the breakdown of the relationship. Her behaviour “certainly did spiral out of control” afterwards.
“You engaged in what can only be described as appalling behaviour,” said Judge Singh. “Your behaviour was awful. I do accept that you were deeply hurt by what happened.
“You lost all self-control of yourself and that loss of self-control led to criminal behaviour. You admitted to assaulting him, albeit it was a single blow. There is no justification for that behaviour.”
Johnson was given 12 days’ rehabilitation and a five-year restraining order. At a later hearing, the terms were amended. She was ordered to pay £200 costs.