A ‘vulnerable and lonely’ man barricaded himself in a hotel room with the ex-partner he was banned from seeing by court order.
Jay Reynolds was slapped with the restraining order in late 2022 after he was convicted of assaulting the woman.
But the 26-year-old claimed to have been repeatedly contacted by his ex-partner since the order was imposed, despite blocking her number and social media accounts.
The couple were together in the Lord Nelson pub, Wantage, on August 26. His victim approached the barmaid, who was known to her from their schooldays, and said she was scared of Reynolds and needed some help.
She was taken to the ladies’ lavatory by the barmaid, where they called the police. However, by the time the officers arrived, the couple had left the public house.
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Concerns grew for the woman’s welfare when no one had heard from her and, by August 29, she was formally declared a missing person.
Police officers broke down the door to her property, only to find the flat in disarray. Items had been damaged and her sofa was upside down.
Even more concerned for the woman, the police managed to track the couple to the Athena Guesthouse on Cowley Road, Oxford.
Officers tried to open the door to the hotel room, only to find it had been barricaded by Reynolds. They forced their way in and found the victim, who was uninjured, inside the room.
In a prepared statement read to detectives when he was interviewed at the police station, Reynolds said his victim had ‘constantly tried to contact him’.
Reynolds, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to two counts of breaching his restraining order.
In mitigation, defence advocate Leanne Ballato described her client as a vulnerable individual who had mental health issues that affected his blameworthiness. He was isolated and ‘spends his life being alone’.
The solicitor advocate said Reynolds was ‘remorseful’ for breaching the order and sorry that he again found himself before the courts.
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Jailing him for eight months, Judge Nigel Daly told Reynolds: “It’s been pointed out to me that the aggrieved in this case has not been particularly harmed and also I might be interested in her views.
“That’s not what this case is about. This case is about you breaching court orders.
“You were subject to a restraining order passed by this court in order to protect somebody.
“The fact that you may not have done much damage to that person is something which I don’t have to add to your sentence.
“But the fact of the matter is you deliberately broke court orders and you knew precisely what you were doing, and in my judgment they were serious and persistent breaches.”
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