A LIBRARIAN forced a colleague into cheating on her female lover with him for four years to keep her job, a court was told.
Richard Ashman, 62, led Catherine Brear to believe she would be out of work if she broke off their affair.
Librarian Richard Ashman forced a colleague into cheating on her female lover with him for four years to keep her job, a court was toldSolent
He tried to “blackmail her into keeping the relationship” going by threatening to tell her long-term partner about it if she broke things off, a court was told.
When she did, he stalked her for two years and bombarded her with emails — many sexual — vowing to expose their fling.
He was seen peering through a bush in her garden and leaving gifts.
Ashman, Southampton’s central library manager, pestered Ms Brear even after she told her partner and boss, who insisted Ashman leave her alone, the city’s crown court heard.
Ashman, honoured by the late Queen with a British Empire Medal for service to Further Education, admitted stalking and got 15 months’ jail, suspended for 18 months.
Judge Christopher Parker told him his behaviour put Ms Brear in an “invisible cage”.
He said: “What you did for such a long time caused really substantial psychological harm.
“What that means is there wasn’t an hour when they weren’t looking over their shoulder.
“One can only hope that you recognise now how distressing and frightening that behaviour can be.
“If this had just been going on for a month, or a couple weeks, the harm would have been substantially less but it wasn’t – it went on for nearly two years.”
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