not mutually exclusive, though.
“I don’t plan to go into details, but there was a time when she was seeking to disengage from the longstanding affair.
“She was very conscious of the fact that he did have several photographs of them together, including some intimate photographs as well that had been taken consensually, that he had stored electronically.
“She made it clear to him that she wanted it to end towards the end of May 2015. Following on from that she asked Mr McGrath to delete from his phone and any other devices anything that related to her to protect her and her family.
“The defendant seems to have found it very, very difficult to deal with.”
Abell said McGrath then became “unstable and tempestuous”.
His victim agreed to meet him at his home in July 2015 despite feeling uncomfortable about it. Abell said McGrath had put a mattress in his front room and asked the woman if she was frightened. "
(could be a reasonable explanation for this, i.e. his wife insisted he not share their bed [although unlikely they don't have a guest room] anymore and he was simply asking the woman why she was anxious or might be the behaviour of controlling perv)
"Abell told the court: “He asked after a few minutes of rather difficult conversation if, in the past months, she kept the relationship going in case she was worried about him having evidence. She felt he was trying to cross-examine her.”
Abell said: “She made it clear to him that their relationship was over. His reaction was to break down in tears and try to kiss her. She made it clear she did not want that. He then spoke in a theatrical voice as if there was an audience and said: ‘OK, ladies and gentlemen, we have closure.’”
The court heard that, between June 2015 and August 2016, McGrath sent the woman emails, approached her in the street and followed her. He also sent letters to the woman’s husband.
The district judge Ken Sheraton said: “This was a persistent, consistent and controlling imposition of yourself on the victim and those close to her.”
He noted McGrath went to the workplace of the complainant’s husband and went close to her workplace, and he said there was “use or threats of use” of photos.
He said only a custodial sentence was appropriate, but he felt able to suspend this after hearing mitigation including McGrath’s guilty plea.
In a statement outside court, McGrath thanked his family for standing by him."