A woman has told of how she feared for her safety after her ex breathed on her neck in a supermarket while she was with her young son in a sickening stalking campaign which lasted for months. The woman had previously been in a brief relationship with Colin Goulding before he made her life hell, Newport Crown Court heard.
David Pugh, prosecuting, told a sentencing hearing how Goulding stalked the woman for months including parking outside her house and revving his engine six times a day, waving at her children as she took them to the park, breathing on her neck in Asda as she shopped with her son, and swinging his car onto the pavement in rage which just missed her son.
Goulding denied stalking but he was later found guilty at a trial at Newport Magistrates' Court. In the trial Goulding claimed he had not been in contact with the woman for a “long time” and said he would drive past her house because he could access his property in that direction but maps show it was clearly a dead-end road and he lived in the opposite direction. CCTV footage provided to the victim by domestic abuse charity Phoenix showed Goulding sitting outside her home on multiple occasions.
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“They met on New Year's Eve 2021 and they added each other on Facebook and by the end of January 2022 they had a relationship where they saw each other a few nights a week,” Mr Pugh told the court. “The defendant wished to see her each night and this was agreed to at the end of February.”
Mr Pugh explained how after the woman learned of previous allegations against Goulding of a domestic nature she began to question the defendant. Goulding has never been charged in relation to those allegations but the court heard how the allegations “worried” the woman. She asked for a formal meeting with Goulding but he didn’t turn up and it led to the breakdown of the relationship.
Goulding asked for “forgiveness” a few days after the end of the relationship to which the woman replied: “No”. What then began as Goulding trying to contact the woman regularly led to her constantly seeing him when she walked to the shop.
“He asked her whether she was seeing a local man and he said he would beat this man up,” Mr Pugh said. “He then would ring her multiple times a day and said: ‘You are making a fool out of me and you will regret this.’
“In early July he started to follow her in the street and he drove past her multiple times. He called her from a different number and texted her saying he does not know why she won’t talk to him and he said she was playing a game with him.
“On July 14 she met with a domestic violence charity who provided her with CCTV outside her home. On the way back from that meeting he stopped her in his car and said: ‘Are you talking to me?’ She said ‘no’ and he then shouted abuse at her.
“On July 22 she was out with her son and he drove by them and said: ‘All I want to do is talk to you.’ He then reversed his car and swung the rear of the car onto the pavement and she held her son out of the way in order for him not to be struck by the car. She told him to leave them alone. On the way home her son had a panic attack and had to use his asthma inhaler.
“On July 27 she was in Asda with her son and felt someone breathing onto the back of her neck. She turned around and saw the defendant who then walked away. On August 8 she took her children to the park and he drove by them and waved.”
On August 18 the woman received the CCTV equipment from Phoenix. The footage, some of which was played in court and showed Goulding revving his engine outside the house repeatedly, showed Gwent Police officers that the defendant appeared to drive beside the house deliberately and slowly each day for no good reason.
On August 29 it showed he drove past the house four times in the space of 30 minutes. On September 9 he parked outside the house at 7.22am and shouted: "How are you?"
The woman reported the stalking to police and told officers how she would “burst into tears” hearing “the very specific sound” of his car which she had “learned to know”. Following his arrest Goulding gave police a prepared statement saying that he had not had any contact with the woman for a “long time” and claimed to be on the street outside her home because he could access the back of his house in that direction, which was later established to be false.
In a statement the woman said: “When I saw him I would struggle to breathe. I would bring the kids closer to me. I do not have a car and I am out walking everywhere and I feel vulnerable. I feel isolated. I used to go out and about and it was a good thing for me but now I plan very specifically where I need to go and how I’m going to get home to what I feel is relative safety. If I hear his car I can’t switch off. I’ve learned to know the sound of his car and I am always listening for it just in case.”
Goulding, of Pant View in Nantyglo, has 11 previous convictions for 22 offences including committing arson with intent to endanger life when he burned down his workplace in 2012. William Bebb, for Goulding, invited Judge Victoria Hillier to “put the ball in his court” and allow him to serve his sentence in the community. “This was not a case which was sophisticated,” Mr Bebb said. “It didn’t take significant planning. It is a situation where they lived close to each other and he didn’t take great action to undertake the contact in question. There is no doubt of course that this has had a great impact on the complainant.”
Mr Bebb said that his client has “demonstrated he is able to abide by conditions” while on bail since September. He added that there were concerns over the impact sending Goulding to immediate custody would have on his 14-year-old son who sees the defendant often. But Judge Hillier responded saying the defendant had spent significant time in custody before and there was a special parental arrangement in place for his children.
Goulding was sentenced to 18 months in jail of which he will serve at least half in prison. “It is concerning to me that you still see this as a technical misunderstanding,” Judge Hillier told Goulding in the dock before sending him down. She told him she was not persuaded that he could be realistically rehabilitated in the community. He also received a restraining order preventing him from making any form of contact with the woman for five years.
If you or someone you know is affected by domestic abuse visit the Live Fear Free website or call the helpline on 0808 80 10 800.
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