Burglar stalked ex-girlfriend before crime spree

Dallan Tearse admitted multiple offences

A burglar who stalked his ex-girlfriend before going on a crime spree has been jailed for three years and three months.

Dallan Tearse, 25, pulled out a knife on the owner of a record shop and took a car from a garage during a two-day spate of burglaries in Newcastle in November, the city's Crown Court heard.

He had previously tormented his ex-partner with threatening texts, phone calls and unwanted visits to her home, prosecutors said.

Tearse, of no fixed abode, admitted offences including stalking involving serious harm or distress, burglary and making threats with an offensive weapon.

Tearse and the woman had been in a relationship from May 2022 to December 2023, prosecutor Matthew Hopkins said.

She said he was "controlling and jealous from the start" but she wanted to support him through various issues, the court heard.

'Scarred for life'

After they broke up, Tearse and his associates followed the woman in their car and, on 24 November, he loudly revved his motorbike engine outside her home after making threats to attack her property, the court heard.

He would "pester" her with calls and messages and set up multiple social media accounts to contact her through, Mr Hopkins said.

In a statement read to the court, the woman said she had been "scarred for life" by Tearse having been "completely brainwashed" by him, adding she had walked on "egg shells" for fear he would spit at or hit her or "smash up" their property.

On 25 November, after being released on bail by police over the stalking allegation, Tearse drove a van using cloned number plates on to the Fowberry Road industrial estate in Scotswood, Mr Hopkins said.

On that occasion he stole a £70 tool box and car keys worth £180 from a car mechanic firm, the court heard.

Tearse returned to the estate with an accomplice at about 10:10 GMT the following day to steal two large signs worth £200 from a plant hire firm and take a £1,000 Vauxhall Insignia from a garage, the court heard.

About an hour later, the owner of a record shop in the John Marley Centre in Newcastle found Tearse behind the counter opening a package and looking for something to steal, Mr Hopkins said.

When challenged, Tearse pulled out a 6in-long (15cm) knife and lunged at the man before fleeing, but not before slashing the tyre of the van of a postman who witnessed the burglary and filmed it on his phone, the court heard.

'Terrifying' behaviour

In mitigation, Rachel Hedworth said Tearse, who had 11 convictions for 24 offences on his record, had been deemed a "naughty boy" since his primary school days when he struggled to concentrate in classes.

She said he was "extremely sorry" for stalking his ex-partner but it was against a background of a picture of him "in a state of undress" being circulated on social media which was causing him "acute embarrassment and distress".

He had also been devastated by the death of a close relative and the break-up of his parents' marriage, while the end of his relationship with the woman had seen him become homeless and turn to drugs, Ms Hedworth said.

Judge Carolyn Scott said Tearse's behaviour towards his ex-girlfriend was "completely unacceptable" and "terrifying", adding it was fair to say the woman was "traumatised" by his actions.

A restraining order banning Tearse from contacting the woman or attending her address was also made to last for 10 years and he was banned from driving for one year and eight months.