Scarborough man Luke Robinson jailed for series of stalking, assaulting police officers and drug offences

Luke Jordan Robinson, 23, bombarded his former partner with abusive phone calls and text messages which she likened to mental “torture”, York Crown Court heard.

Robinson - who was on bail at the time and banned from contacting her - was arrested for harassing her but continued to wage his relentless stalking campaign.

Prosecutor Brooke Morrison said that Robinson’s ex-partner, who was named in court, had called police after their eight-month relationship ended because he wouldn’t stop contacting her.

In response, Robinson bombarded her with abusive phone calls and sent her messages asking her why she had called police. He also went round to her house in Eastfield.

Ms Morrison said that on one day alone, in December 2021, Robinson rang the victim 70 times from a withheld number.

“She reported the incident to the police and had to change the settings on her phone,” added Ms Robinson

The victim, who was in touch with the IDAS charity for victims of domestic abuse, was so fearful of Robinson that she also installed CCTV cameras outside her home.

Robinson was under investigation for the harassment offence when, on April 22, 2022, he was arrested again after police caught him with some cannabis.

Police had approached him in The Crescent, Scarborough, because he was on a ‘wanted’ list and found him hiding in a garden.

Robinson appeared before magistrates and admitted possessing cannabis. He was given court bail on condition that he didn’t contact the victim.

But by September 2022 he made “multiple” phone calls and sent her abusive messages from “various numbers” containing “veiled threats”.

In one message he warned her: “I’ve had it – you’re done.”

The victim contacted police and Robinson was arrested again. He was charged with stalking but initially denied the offence.

On November 12 last year, he was involved in a deeply disturbing act of violence at a pub in Bridlington.

Pub door staff had flagged officers down at about 11pm as Robinson was wanted by police and they recognised him from a social-media appeal.

He was so drunk he had passed out on the floor of the pub and when two officers went inside to arrest him, he was “snoring loudly”.

“(Robinson) then woke up and tried to get to his feet,” said Ms Morrison.

The officers helped him up, but he became aggressive, “shouting, trying to push forward and get away from the two officers”.

The officers and a doorman took Robinson to ground and cuffed him. When police said they were trying to help him, Robinson kicked off again, demanding they take the cuffs off him and trying to break away.

“He was growling at the officers, saying ‘Watch what I will do’,” said Ms Morrison.

Robinson, who was telling others in the pub to film the incident, then turned to one of the constables and spat a “large amount of phlegm” at his face, before kicking another officer four times in the leg.

They put a spit hood on him and leg restraints before carrying Robinson to the police van. When they took the hood off, Robinson tried to spit at the officers again while subjecting them to a volley of vile, foul-mouthed abuse.

He was taken into custody where police found 13.7g of cannabis on him.

Robinson, then of Scarborough but lately of Wolverhampton, ultimately admitted harassing and stalking his ex-partner, two counts of assaulting a police officer, two counts of possessing cannabis and breaching a suspended prison sentence. He appeared for sentence via video link today after being remanded in custody.

In a statement read out in court, his ex-partner, a working single mother, said she had had to ring police on a weekly basis while Robinson was pestering her.

She said had been contacted by “230 numbers” and was so distressed at one point that she didn’t want “to see another day”. She had suffered “emotional trauma day in and day out” which had amounted to “torture”.

She said that Robinson had “worn” her down and she had lived her life “in fear”.

She added: “Luke Robinson is brutal, he is obsessed. I don’t think he will ever stop. He told me if he does go (to prison) he will use others to target me.”

Robinson, of Tithe Road, Wednesfield, had 17 previous offences on his record including drug possession, public order matters and being drunk and disorderly. In April last year he was given a 22-month suspended prison sentence for being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine.

Defence barrister Sean Smith said Robinson’s mental health had suffered following the murder of his brother Solomon Robinson, 26, in October 2019 which led to five Scarborough men being jailed for life.

He said that Luke Robinson, who came from a large family and had many siblings, had been in a “dark place” and endured a turbulent upbringing.

Judge Simon Hickey told Robinson he had given him an “exceptional” chance in April last year when he spared him jail for the drug-dealing offences, but he then started reoffending within 17 days of the order being imposed.

“The chance I gave you was clearly thrown back at me,” added Mr Hickey.

Robinson was jailed for two years and seven months and slapped with a 10-year restraining order banning him from contacting the victim, posting anything about her on social media and entering her street in Scarborough.