Elderly man jailed for having sex with vulnerable woman he "obsessed" over

Tuesday 11 September 2018

A 77-year-old man has been jailed for four-and-a-half years after he contacted a vulnerable woman in her 30's with a significant learning disability, lived with her for six months and had sex with her, despite being forbidden to do so by a restraining order.

Michael Amy, of Barnsley, appeared in Jersey's Royal Court yesterday facing six counts of breaching a restraining order which had been imposed in 2015.

The Court heard that Amy's victim was described as particularly vulnerable due to her "need for approval and eagerness to please."

Crown Advocate Emma Hollywood, setting out the case for the prosecution, said that Amy was first served with a harassment notice May 2014 after his attentions had become unwanted. Amy ignored the notice and continued to contact the victim against her will. 

Amy was then taken to the Magistrate's Court and a five-year restraining order was imposed to prevent him from contacting the victim. Despite promising not to, Amy contacted the victim shortly after and was brought to Royal Court in April 2015. He admitted contacting the victim and having indecently assaulted her. He was sentenced to a total of 210 hours of community service. Once again a restraining order was made to prevent Amy from having any contact, direct or indirect, with the victim.

The Court heard that in September 2015 and February 2018, there were at least 14 chance meetings reported between Amy and the victim. 

The victim said that she and Amy had been in contact since October 2017 after meeting by chance in a car park. The Crown Advocate explained that Amy had breached the restraining order in three ways: by direct contact with the victim in public in a car park on various occasions; by direct contact with her at his home and by engaging in sexual activity with her.

The victim said that Amy asked her about her working hours and wrote down rules about subjects they should not discuss. She said that at first she felt sorry for him but she also felt pressurised when he said he wanted her to stay and not leave. 

The victim told Amy he could hug and kiss her but she didn't want anything else to happen. However, after Christmas last year, they started having sex, at Amy's initiative. 

The police were eventually alerted of the contact between Amy and the victim by her adult social worker in February 2018. She told the police she was no longer seeing Amy because of his temper.

The Crown Advocate said that the victim had suffered psychological disturbance and distress due to her relationship with Amy. She said that Amy's breaches had been entirely premeditated, deliberate and that he had shown no respect for the victim or for the Court who imposed the orders to protect the victim. She recommended a total sentence of five years in prison.

Pictured: The Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq said that Amy's breaches had been deliberate.

Defending, Advocate Estelle Burns said that Amy agreed with the facts presented by the Crown Advocate and didn't wish her to convince the court to reduce his sentence. She said he had became obsessed with victim and accepted he was entirely at fault. 

She added: "Mr Amy realises he has caused her harm. 'Her memories of me must be awful,' he has said."

Handing out the sentence, the Deputy Bailiff, Tim Le Cocq, who was sitting with Jurats Pamela Pitman, Jane Ronge, Paul Nicolle, Jerry Ramsden and Rozanne Thomas, said that Amy knowingly and deliberately breached the restraining orders and described his offending as "very serious."

He imposed a seven year restraining order and ordered for Amy's name to remain on the Sex Offenders' Register for seven years. He added that the Court had felt they could make a small reduction to the sentence suggested by the Crown and imposed a total sentence of four-and-a-half years.