Scarborough man jailed for two years following scary harassment campaign including acid-throwing threats

A 65-year-old man who threatened to throw acid in a woman’s face as part of a relentless harassment campaign has been jailed for two years.

Robert Young, from Scarborough, put the woman through a torturous three-week ordeal during which he posted a “scary clown face” on Facebook under which a tagline read: “Sleep well. I’ll be standing right outside your bedroom window tonight.”

In another incident, he ran towards her with a dog as she got into her car. He then shouted threats through her car window, “wiggling his finger in front of his face” and making a “sizzling noise” which the victim said was a reference to throwing her acid in her face, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Emma Hughes said that Young, a father-of-13, was on bail at the time after assaulting the victim in a previous incident.

His bail conditions forbade him from contacting her but on June 28 he posted a meme, or “scary-looking clown face”, on Facebook which was aimed at the victim.

On July 11, she had just got into her car in a street in Scarborough when she saw Young, who had a dog with him, running towards her.

“She reversed to get out of the way, but (Young) came up to the window…making threats to damage her cars and wiggled his finger in front of his face and made a sizzling noise, a reference to acid burning,” added Ms Hughes.

When the victim told Young he shouldn’t be speaking to her because of his bail conditions, he said he “didn’t care” and then drove off in his car.

She said he had threatened to throw acid in her face before.

The following day, the victim was shopping at Aldi in Scarborough when Young walked up to her and said: “Like that, is it?”

He confronted her again at the check-out, making demands for money, and in the car park where he “threatened to put a pickaxe through her (car) bonnet and put acid in her face”.

Young is said to have told the terrified woman: “This is never going to end.”

Four days later, he posted another meme on Facebook which was again aimed at the victim and read: “Don’t pxxx off old people. The older we get the less prison is a deterrent.”

Young was ultimately arrested and admitted confronting the woman but claimed this was because she owed him money.

Young, of Wooler Street, was charged with harassment with fear of violence and ultimately admitted the offence which occurred between June 27 and July 17. He appeared for sentence via video link today after being remanded in custody.

In a statement read out in court, the victim said that Young had made constant demands for money and shown a “complete disregard” for his bail conditions.

“He has been to my home,” she added.

“It has made me feel frightened and not protected. I’m constantly looking over my shoulder.”

She added: “I’m constantly worried about what (Young) will do next. He saw prison as no deterrent as he has nothing to lose. I’m left terrified at what he’s capable of.”

She described the threats on social media as “very unnerving” and said she had been prescribed anti-depressants due to depression, stress and anxiety caused by Young’s atrocious behaviour.

Young had 32 previous convictions for 51 offences including serious violence, battery and carrying a weapon. He was on a community order at the time of the harassment campaign after being convicted of assaulting the victim.

He chose to represent himself in court, eschewing the court’s offer of legal representation because jail was “the best place for me”.

He said he didn’t need a lawyer as he would be prepared to “spend the rest of my life in prison”.

He said he “wasn’t in a good place at all” at the time of the offending and wished he could “take it all back”.

Judge Simon Hickey described the offences as “serious actions and threats over a prolonged period of time” which caused “serious distress” to the victim.

He said the offences were aggravated by the fact that Young was “in drink” at the time.

The judge said that Young “simply ignored” court injunctions and had shown a “complete disregard” for his bail conditions.

Young was jailed for two years and slapped with a lifetime restraining order banning him from entering the woman’s street in Scarborough and prohibiting him contacting her or posting anything about her on social media.