A FAMILY will no longer be tormented after a Bracknell man who followed his wife’s car using a GPS tracker was locked up.
Justin Cansdale, formerly of Wokingham Road, Bracknell, admitted to stalking his former spouse and children from April to September 2021.
The 49-year-old sent letters to his daughter which ‘made it clear’ he had been watching her after he referenced her change in hair colour, how fast she was driving and her new job despite being banned from contacting her.
This came after Cansdale was handed community orders for breaking into his family’s home using a ladder and sending his ex-wife more than 200 emails before the stalking started.
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Cansdale’s stalking culminated in him placing a GPS tracker on his ex-wife’s car and tracking her location to Portsmouth where she was meeting a new partner.
Cansdale, who appeared for a sentencing at Reading Crown Court from HMP Bristol, separated from his wife in February 2020 having been married for 21 years.
Leigh Hart, prosecuting, said Cansdale sent gifts and parcels to his children from June to September 2021.
They included letters which referenced his daughter’s changing hair colour, her driving speed and seeing his ex-wife at hospital.
“Included in these are references to incidents the defendant would only have known about if he had been observing the family”, Ms Hart said.
In mid-September 2017, Cansdale’s ex-wife was driving to Portsmouth to visit her new partner.
On her way there she received a phone call from a withheld number. When she answered, no one spoke, but she heard a male breathing.
When she returned home, her son showed her texts from Cansdale that mentioned specific locations his ex-wife had been to in Portsmouth.
Cansdale was arrested on September 26, 2021 and police raided his house, where they found a GPS tracker registered to him.
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A search of his ex-wife’s car revealed a GPS tracker had been attached to the rear of her vehicle with magnets.
In a statement read by Ms Hart, Cansdale’s ex-wife said: “This incident made me feel extremely scared as I believe he has been following me.
“He is an angry and aggressive person and it scares me to think about what he could do next.”
Cansdale’s son also made statement, again read by Ms Hart.
He said: “I am a teenager. I shouldn’t have to be worried about my dad.”
His son recounted an incident in March 2020 where Cansdale broke into the family home with a ladder, calling it “creepy” and “not normal.”
He said he he would lock himself in the bathroom with a baseball bat if his father ever broke into the house again.
Michael Shilliday, defending, said Cansdale’s “warped sense of duty” towards his family caused him to act how he did.
“What he did was in any respect not reasonable he fully accepts that”, the defence barrister said.
“He is doing what he can to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
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His Honour Judge Dugdale, sentencing, said Cansdale’s contact with his children breached a restraining order barring contact with them imposed after a conviction in June 2020.
He said: “The letters you sent to your daughter were written in such a way that they were designed to convey to her that you had been watching her.”
The judge continued: “The overall offending deals with three victims.
“The sentence I pass needs to reflect the fact there are three victims who have been seriously badly affected by your behaviour.
“Offending of this is extremely serious. In our society we have a right to move on in life.
“When a relationship breaks up both partners have a right to move on without harassment from an ex partner.
“Should it come to the point where a child feels they are being harassed by a parent they should have the right to move on as well.
“People who insist on harassing their ex-partners needs to understand that what they are doing causes very real harm and the court will intervene to stop that happening.”
Cansdale was sentenced to 30 months in prison for two counts of stalking with intention of causing alarm or distress, one count of stalking without fear, and one count of breaching a restraining order.
He was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Monday, February 28.
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