A former soldier has been described as a danger to women by a judge who sentenced him to five years in prison for a 'terrifying' campaign of harassment against his former partner. Michael Ferndale, 52, a graduate of Sandhurst Military Academy, attempted to destroy Kate Watkin's reputation by sending false accusations to her family, friends, and employer, including claims of domestic abuse, fraud, paedophilia, espionage, infidelity, and sex work.
Ferndale was convicted earlier this year of one count of stalking causing serious alarm or distress between April 2023 and February 2025. At Isleworth Crown Court on Friday, Judge Hannah Duncan said he presented a 'high risk' to his victim and any other woman he might enter a relationship with. 'You set out to destroy her. She only ever begged to be left alone, however you ratcheted up and the allegations became worse and worse,' the judge stated.
Judge Duncan described Ferndale as 'intelligent and manipulative,' with delusions of grandeur, noting that he emailed newspaper editors, employers, family, and friends with lies to 'humiliate as far and wide as you could.' She added: 'It was the stuff of nightmares and was akin to the worst type of blackmail. Blackmail has been described as the murder of the soul, and that is what you tried to do. The impact on her was extreme; she lost her job and her personality.'
Ferndale, who served in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, attempted to sabotage Ms Watkin's career by contacting her employer, a sovereign wealth fund run by a British billionaire, falsely claiming to have been a member of the special forces and to know the head of MI5. Judge Duncan remarked: 'It would be sad and pathetic were it not so spiteful and vindictive.'
Ms Watkin, 44, wept in the witness box as she recounted how Ferndale terrorised her for nearly two years after they met on a dating app in April 2022. Reading her victim impact statement from behind a screen, she said: 'Michael attempted to strategically dismantle every aspect of my life, contacting any individual, institution, or organisation within my orbit, including my work, university, and professional networking group I helped to establish, and even my bank. His harassment was malicious, slanderous, libellous, and absolutely terrifying for everyone who has been dragged into this by his emails, messages, and phone calls.'
She continued: 'Michael has conducted a sustained campaign aimed at damaging my reputation, destroying my career, and maintaining control over my life long after the relationship has ended. Michael’s campaign of accusations, blaming and shaming, attempting to reverse my reality, stating I was the liar and the abuser, and the problem in the relationship, makes me question my own judgement and self-worth. I firmly believe that Michael remains a danger to me personally and other women, so I sincerely hope this would be taken into account and reflected in his sentence.'
Keiran Galvin, for the defence, said his client had run five marathons backwards for charity and had a 'distinguished military career.' Ms Watkin told a jury earlier this year that 'alarm bells' sounded within weeks of meeting Ferndale when he accused her of being a people trafficker after she went on holiday to Romania alone. A 'genuinely terrifying' incident followed when he became aggressive with hotel staff after a weekend break in the Cotswolds in July 2022. She said: 'When I first met Mike he seemed fun and was very charming. He had lived a fascinating life, but there were warnings very early on.'
Ms Watkin described an incident where Ferndale became agitated upon discovering their bedroom door would not lock: 'What I saw I think was PTSD. I felt very unsafe and I had to get away, I had to get out of that room, I was very scared. I realised my house keys were in his car three or four miles away. I ran to the car in the middle of the night to get my keys. Mike started to accuse me of stealing his car. It didn't feel safe.'
In July 2022, he sent a naked photograph of himself to her with her name written in black marker pen on his penis. Ms Watkin said: 'I didn't know what to do. I think I found a message back saying "that's a bit scary." What do you do with that?' He then tried to sabotage her career by contacting her employer. By December 2022, she was so disturbed by the thousands of messages he was sending that she applied for a transfer to the company’s new office in Abu Dhabi to escape him. Ms Watkin, who won a high court battle in 2019 over her £1.3 million home in Fulham, west London, told the jury: 'I was stuck in a cycle of chaos.'
Prosecutor Gabriella Lewis told the jury that Ferndale subjected his victim to a 'campaign of harassment,' with behaviour that became 'increasingly strange, sinister and relentless.' The court heard that Ferndale obsessively bombarded Ms Watkin with bizarre lies despite her pleas to be left alone. Ms Lewis said: 'The defendant’s behaviour continued and he sent bizarre, sexualised and in some respects threatening messages which became increasingly unnerving, including offers to act as a male prostitute; sending pornographic images to Ms Watkin accusing her of being a sex worker named Lilly Watson, and accused Ms Watkin of being involved in a child abuse ring along with friends of hers.'
Ms Watkin reported Ferndale to the police, and he was arrested in February 2024. Ms Lewis added: 'Ms Watkin says ultimately, that all of this behaviour meant that she went from a confident and happy person to someone riddled with anxiety who found it difficult to properly function both at work and in her personal life as a result of his behaviour.'
