A woman who stalked her ex-partner for a decade, demanding he breastfeed her, has been jailed for four years. Lina Tantash, 44, was described as 'vicious, manipulative and devious' by a judge at Lewes Crown Court.
Tantash began her campaign against Jarlath Rice in 2007 after a brief fling in Dublin. She forced him to sign a 'love contract' that included marrying her within a year and speaking to her every night. When he tried to end the relationship, she followed him to Brighton and bombarded him with 20,000 abusive texts, hacked his voicemails, and sent £200 worth of pizza to his workplace.
She also targeted his colleague Sarah Borland, wrongly assuming they were romantically involved, sending threats to kill her. Tantash set up 11 email accounts to send messages and selfies, and called his workplace up to 40 times a day, sometimes using an American accent to disguise her voice.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Rice said Tantash's behaviour had 'aggressively and abusively dismantled' his life, causing him to suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts. He repeatedly moved house to escape her.
Tantash told the judge she was 'happy to leave the UK' if required. The Crown Prosecution Service described her behaviour as 'carefully planned to cause maximum distress'.
