A spurned lover who sent ‘continuous deliveries’ to a married woman’s home and bombarded her with foul-mouthed emails has been spared jail. Andrew Cooper pleaded guilty to breaching a non-molestation order (NMO) and one count of harassment against a mum who lives with her husband in Devon, ahead of a planned trial at Uxbridge Magistrates Court.
Cooper’s relationship with the woman began in 2021, but when the affair ended, the 46-year-old, of Torrington Road, Ruislip, refused to accept things were over, magistrates heard. After a period of harassment, that began around Christmas 2023, Exeter Family Court ordered obsessive Cooper to stop contacting the mum on February 19 this year.
Rather than heed the legal restriction, Cooper used his work email address to send her a series of vile messages to her NHS email address at North Devon District Hospital, prosecutor Niamh McDonagh told the court.
The emails, which mostly included a variation on the word ‘c**t’, included lines like ‘Never stopped loving you, c**t’ and ‘sexy c**t’, the bench heard.
READ MORE: Girl, 9, still critical 49 days after drive-by shooting with new photos of attacker released
A total of 115 emails were sent since January this year, described by Ms McDonagh as ‘very disturbing’. ‘You know you’re a lying slag’, ‘You disgusting old tramp’, and ‘Please go in a car and have an accident’, were among a selection of the messages read out to magistrates at a sentencing hearing on Tuesday, July 17.
Cooper also sent a torrent of home deliveries, including four takeaways between January 15 and 22 this year, that were traceable to his phone number found on the receipts. A court document, seen by MyLondon, states: “[Cooper] also sent [the woman] unwanted gifts such as perfumes, meat, mugs, cards and Chinese takeaways to her home address.”
Cooper also sent one email, stating ‘I hope’ someone rapes a four-year-old family member of her, and joked about sending the same young child condoms for her to use. “I’m going to laugh when you lose your family,” he wrote in another email, adding: “I would hate [your daughter] to grow up like her mother… filthy lying tramp… Whore.”
Despite being ‘well aware’ of the restrictions of his non-molestation order, Cooper continued to use existing email chains to harass the woman, Ms McDonagh said. The court also heard how Cooper was kicked out of a family court video call for calling her a ‘slag’. At the time, he blamed drinking alcohol and ‘tablets’ for his behaviour.
‘He wants to destroy me’
In her victim impact statement, the woman said the last two years had caused ‘a massive impact’ on her and her family, and issues with her husband. While she conceded ‘I was wrong’ for her affair with ‘Andy’, she said Cooper made it ‘impossible’ to move on.
“The continuous deliveries make it hard to relax because there are always people coming to my door,” she said, “I’m scared, to be honest, that Andy has continued to contact me, that he is going to take it further. I think he has nothing to lose. I feel he wants to destroy me massively.”
The victim also described how Cooper’s emails to her work account had forced her boss to give a statement to police, which she believes ‘gives him a sense of control’ over her. Ms McDonagh argued the harm to the woman and her family had been ‘very serious’ as she called for an indefinite restraining order.
‘Deeply unpleasant’
Defence counsel Madeleine Pinto argued the emails had not been ‘persistent or very serious’ as she laid out the long gaps between the bombardments, and read out the details of some, which she described as ‘affectionate’ or ‘harmless’. They included one email, which contained only a full stop.
“Some of the messages were deeply unpleasant. But they should not be taken as the tone of all the messages,” she said.
Rejecting blame towards Cooper for her apparent marriage issues, Ms Pinto said: “[Husband’s name] was her husband at the time she entered into the affair with Mr Cooper. Any breakdown of her relationship with [the husband] can’t be laid at Mr Cooper’s door.”
Ms Pinto also suggested the sending of deliveries was a mark of ‘desperation’, telling the bench: “He did go to some lengths to get her attention.”
Giving personal mitigation, she said Cooper had shown remorse by making admissions and apologising during his police interview and referred to grief over the deaths of his father and brother, combined with his alcohol and prescription medication use.
Calling for a fine, Ms Pinto said: “It would be unjust to send Mr Cooper to prison when he is trying to get help.”
But, the chairwoman was unimpressed by the idea Cooper might leave court without any punishment, given his inability to pay a substantial fine while signed off work with depression and anxiety.
“We are going to sentence you to a suspended sentence order. There’s no doubt this meets the custody threshold,” the lead magistrate said.
Cooper was given a 16-week sentence suspended for 18 months, with 30 days of rehabilation activity requirement and an order to complete 30 sessions of Building Better Relationships. He was also given an indefinite restraining order and must pay £239 in court costs.
Got a story or a court case we should cover? Please email [email protected] or WhatsApp 07580255582
Don’t miss out on the latest crime stories from across London. Sign up to MyLondon’s Court & Crime newsletter HERE
