A stalker who covertly recorded his former partner being intimate with another man in her home and fitted trackers to her car has avoided prison. Michael Held, 47, admitted stalking involving serious fear or distress at Newcastle Crown Court.
Campaign of monitoring
Held had been in a relationship with the woman for 22 years after marrying in 2007. Following difficulties, she told him she wanted a divorce. He responded by 'love bombing' her and persuading her to stay, but she later decided to end the marriage.
Held, who had moved to Gloucestershire for work, 'embarked on a campaign of monitoring her' over 11 months, during which he made determined efforts to know what she was doing. This included installing camera equipment in her home to watch her.
Covert recordings and trackers
Saba Shan, prosecuting, said: 'She became aware she was being spied on when she got a message from him asking where she was going for the evening. Among the material covertly recorded was footage of her being intimate with another man.'
At Christmas 2025, he attended another person's home and showed them the footage 'as proof she had been cheating on him', Miss Shan said. In May 2025, while driving her car, she got a notification that her car was being tracked. She found a tracker in the vehicle and a second device in the engine compartment.
He also used an app to track her movements and whereabouts, Miss Shan said. She was unaware he had one of her old phones. He accessed her emails, social media accounts and dating apps, and sent information he had accessed to a family member, some of which was 'extremely personal'. Miss Shan said: 'He accessed her online shopping account and posted images on social media of lingerie she had ordered.' He also changed passwords on some of her social media accounts and remotely deleted pictures from her iCloud.
Victim impact and sentence
In a victim impact statement, she said: 'The final straw for me was when I was in hospital with my dying mother and found a second tracking device fitted to my vehicle. Losing my mother was devastating but discovering I had been monitored and controlled during that period compounded my grief and trauma. For a long time I normalised Michael's behaviour. I feel ashamed I didn't see it sooner, but it's hard to accept I was living with a blindfold on.'
The woman, who lives in Newcastle, now plans to move. Recorder David Brooke KC told Held: 'I genuinely have worried about what to do with you. This is quite serious offending by you, and it's persistent and sophisticated, and it's mean, really. It happened on a number of occasions using different methods, and it obviously did cause her anxiety and distress. Just, by a whisker, I can avoid immediate custody, but I want you to know it was very close. This is intrusive, unpleasant behaviour by you. You frightened your former wife and understandably so by what you've done. Be warned, if you do this sort of thing again you won't get a second chance.'
Held, of Elmgrove Estate, Hardwicke, Gloucester, who has seven previous convictions for driving offences more than 20 years ago, was sentenced to two years suspended for two years with 150 hours unpaid work, and was also given a restraining order.
