Stalker, 44, who bugged her ex-boyfriend’s car and rerouted his mail to ‘expose’ him as a ‘benefit fraudster’ and extract extra child support payments faces jail

A stalker who wiretapped her ex-boyfriend’s car, rerouted his mail and smeared him as a fraudster to get extra child support for their 12-year-old daughter could face jail time.

Veronica Jackson told Kevin McCormack: “I know where you are – I know what you’re doing” as part of a campaign of harassment that even saw her make an anonymous call to his new employer at a nightclub, falsely claiming that police were investigating him for fraud.

The 44-year-old also collected and opened the victim’s letters in an attempt to prove she had a job and force her to pay £200 a month in child support.

She now faces a prison sentence after being convicted at Warrington Magistrates’ Court of stalking and delaying mail.

Jackson and McCormack had a daughter together in 2012, but split eight years later after a decade-long relationship.

The father, who has another daughter, told the court he had “agreed a figure” with the Child Support Agency (CSA) but Jackson, from Henbury, Cheshire, demanded a higher figure and the situation became “stalemate”.

While he was unemployed, Mr McCormack, who said he could only afford £6.25 a week to support their child, received a series of text messages from his ex-girlfriend detailing the routes he took to and from home and the times he travelled.

The texts from Jackson read: “I have enough evidence to charge you with benefit fraud. All kinds of login photos. We can work this out between us or I’ll go the official route or are you going to talk Kevin? I want you to pay for our daughter like you should. You’ve made a really big mistake these past few months.”

Private letters sent to Jackson also revealed that Mr McCormack was about to lose his rented accommodation and that his pursuer had contacted his employer asking for confidential information when he eventually got a job at a nightclub.

Mr McCormack contacted Royal Mail to ask why he was not receiving letters. He received an address for sending letters. When he visited the facility, he found the pursuer’s car parked there.

Police reported the matter to Jackson, who runs a hair extensions business, and when officers arrested her they found a bag of mail in her home with open letters addressed to him.

The victim testified that after she blocked Jackson on WhatsApp, the next day she found an overturned packet of flour on her car.

Mr McCormack told the court: “One morning I was meeting a friend in Bolton and Veronica sent me a message with a picture of my car and a picture of some app.

“It was about what time I left, what route I took, where I ended up, and she accused me of working, of not paying enough, and so on. I wasn’t working at that time.

“I was scared and nervous and felt like I was being harassed. It was constant news.

“Of course being followed made me feel nervous. I did not know, what to do.

“I couldn’t move unless she knew where I was and sent them messages. I kept looking out the window. Is something going to come through my door? It was stressful.

He added: “I told Veronica that the CSA was looking into it and to leave me alone. I said, “We can work this out, stop harassing me. Stop following me and making my life go nowhere. Leave me alone. Let’s get on with our lives. Let’s settle this properly for our daughter.” But she still wrote to me.

“At that time I was renting an apartment and I got a message from the owner that he was selling it. Then I got a text from Veronica: “Haha, I’m so sorry you’re homeless. You deserve it. You are being evicted.”

“I couldn’t believe she knew that information. Only the owner and the real estate agent who handled it knew.

“I didn’t receive any mail for about two or three weeks and I thought that was a bit strange, so I went to the post office and asked and they told me my mail had been forwarded to this address.

“I went to the address and Veronica’s car was in the driveway. That’s why she knew about personal matters. Whatever went, she obviously found it. She found out about the situation in my house.

“I blocked her on WhatsApp because she was sending me threatening messages on Tuesday evening.

“Wednesday morning I woke up and my car was full of white flour. It took three days to get it off.

In her testimony, Jackson claimed her ex-boyfriend was working as a construction manager while also applying for benefits, adding: “On the phone with CSA, they asked me if I could find out where he worked, and I said, ‘Leave it with me.'”

“He said he was claiming benefits but we were collecting information that he was working which would change the payment from £6.25 a week to £50 a week which is what I had requested.

“(CSA) asked if I could get a bank statement or pay slip to prove he was working. So I forwarded his mail.”

When asked if she thought putting a tracker on his car was stalking, Jackson replied: “There was no contact with Kevin, he refused to talk to me and kept hanging up on CSA.

“I tried to get him to pay for my daughter. I’m a single mom with a 12-year-old, no father support. I didn’t know how else to do it.

Prosecutor Vincent Yip said: “There is simply no excuse for what she did. He was afraid.

“He didn’t know what was going to happen. Following someone, their location, redirecting her posts without permission, calling her workplace, asking questions – a reasonable person would consider this to be harassment and unjustified under any circumstances.

But defender Lionel Greig said: “She tried to argue that he was working and she and her daughter were entitled to appropriate benefits calculated accordingly.

“He can get legal advice, but there is an element of cost, and these are significant in family law proceedings. There is the option of hiring a private investigator, but again, everything costs money – the defendant simply did not have the means.”

“She just wanted to show that she worked and had financial obligations to her daughter.”

Sentencing Jackson, Judge Robin Bradshaw told her: “You admitted fitting a tracking device, redirecting and opening mail and contacting his place of work.

While we understand the situation you find yourself in, we do not believe your conduct was reasonable under the circumstances because the other evidence is so compelling.

“You should have known that your behavior would constitute harassment.”