John Pennington, 44, a convicted stalker who terrorised two former girlfriends, is wanted again on stalking charges. He bombarded his ex with unwanted messages and placed a tracking device on her car after refusing to accept their relationship was over.
Previous convictions
Pennington, formerly of Abbeyfield Drive in West Derby and later of Scarborough, received a two-year prison sentence in 2019 for stalking a mother of three and breaching a non-molestation order. On one occasion, he slashed two tyres on her car, and she tried to drive off with two deflated tyres. He grabbed her car keys through the car window and ran off. On another occasion, he "swerved his car" towards his ex's nephew while he was outside her home in St Helens.
Following his release, he was arrested again in 2021 on suspicion of stalking a different woman. Police said he had links to Birkenhead, Knotty Ash, Preston, Penwortham, and Bolton. While released on bail, he contacted one of his victims again, breaching a non-molestation order. In April 2022, he was handed another two-year prison sentence at Preston Crown Court.
Victim calls for tougher sentences
In November 2023, another ex-girlfriend who said she was tormented by Pennington called for tougher sentences after he received a 13-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, for stalking causing fear of violence. She told the ECHO: "Everyone would say he appeared charming at first, but things quickly changed and he became very controlling, obsessive and wouldn't let me move."
She added: "It's clear he hasn't learned his lesson. He's had two visits now to prison, and he's lucky that this (sentence) has been suspended. When will he learn his lesson? What will he have to do to get another prison sentence and not be released early? Although the police can do the legwork, the courts don't seem to back it up with a bigger sentence. If he gets two years he'll be out in 10 months. So he knows it's easy."
Harassment and stalking are offences under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. The maximum sentence for stalking involving fear of violence, serious alarm or distress is 10 years. The woman said the "easy" sentence was "part of a wider problem" of underestimating the devastating effects of stalking. She said: "You can see that the sentence really does not reflect the crime. Nobody understands how stalking changes your life. I have no life now. Everyday things like going to the park, going to the shop, are difficult. You're always nervous and hypervigilant."
Pennington is described as white, with blue eyes and short blonde/mousey hair. He is from Liverpool but also has links to Widnes. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact Cheshire Police via their website, quoting incident reference number 26000541691.
