Estate agent tattooed ex-girlfriend’s name on his body after she dumped him

A jealous estate agent who stalked his ex-girlfriend after she broke up with him has been spared jail.

Tobias Gorman, 29, harassed Sophie Adnett, 26, by sending her over 100 emails and leaving her 146 voicemails of a sexual nature.

He also turned up at her home and place of work, had her name tattooed on his body and sent her clothes doused in his aftershave.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard that Gorman and Sophie began dating in 2017 after he divorced his wife.

Their relationship developed quickly and within a few months they were living together.

However, the couple regularly argued as he became controlling and quizzed her about where she had been and who she had seen.

Sophie, a stage actress, called off the relationship in January but Gorman ‘could not accept the relationship was over.’

Adam Norris, prosecuting, told the court that between January 29 and April 19 this year Gorman sent Sophie daily emails and would show up at her flat and drama rehearsals.

The stalking became so bad that in April, Sophie called the police.

Mr Norris said: ‘There were occasions when Miss Adnett had to hide in her own hallway because the defendant was outside her home.

‘He would send her flowers at work leading colleagues to comment on how wonderful the man in her life was.

‘She felt this was hiding what was really going on and how she felt.

‘He would check her phone and regularly ask where she had been and who she had seen.

‘On one occasion he turned up uninvited to a party where she was in conversation with someone else.’

Gorman, from Poole, pleaded guilty to one charge of stalking involving serious alarm or distress.

Anne-Marie Garvie, mitigating, said that Gorman was a man of previous good character.

She added that he had been suffering from financial issues for some time and that his parents, who live in Hawaii, have been ‘funding his lifestyle’.

The defendant, who wore a black suit in the dock, was handed a five year restraining order to keep away from Sophie, ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and attend 30 days of behavioural rehabilitation activities.

Judge Robert Pawson also gave him nine months to pay £500 in damages to his victim.

He said: ‘There can be a fine line between the legitimate pursuing of someone and harassment but you went well over that fine line.

‘You are not a child, you are 29 and of an age that you should have known better.

‘You became unhealthily obsessed.’