Possessive police constable, 58, fitted tracking device in boot of wife’s car, checked her phone messages and wouldn’t let her do the school run alone
- Mark Howell-Walmsley, 58, denied using controlling or coercive behaviour
- But he changed his plea to guilty after wife Sharon McCaig took to the stand
- She told how he forced her to make her mobile phone available for inspection
- Insisted on joining school run and demanded proof when she visited her mother
A police constable fitted a tracking device in the boot of his wife’s car, checked her phone messages, and wouldn’t let her do the school run alone, a court heard.
Mark Howell-Walmsley, 58, of Capel Curig, Snowdonia, initially denied using controlling or coercive behaviour against his wife Sharon McCaig between November 2019 and March last year.
But he changed his plea to guilty after Miss McCaig began giving evidence in a trial.
She told how he forced her to make her mobile phone available for inspection, insisted on accompanying her on the school run and demanded photographic proof when she visited her elderly mother in Cheshire.
He also placed a tracker in her car to follow her movements because he feared she was having an affair.
Mark Howell-Walmsley, 58, (pictured) of Capel Curig, Snowdonia, initially denied using controlling or coercive behaviour against his wife Sharon McCaig between November 2019 and March last year. But he changed his plea to guilty after Miss McCaig began giving evidence in a trial
Miss McCaig – who ran a small shop as an artist at Llanberis – said she and Howell-Walmsley had been in a relationship since 2015 and were married in May 2017.
But she described a ‘series of issues’ with Howell-Walmsley’s behaviour.
Howell-Walmsley’s – a former PC – had ‘possessive and controlling’ conduct which kept her awake at night.
He gradually became ‘more irrational’ and began making unfounded accusations against her.
The defendant had insisted that his wife remove her mobile phone password so he could check her messages.
Miss McCaig told a jury at Mold Crown Court: ‘He wanted to know everything I did on my phone. I had nothing to hide.’
Questioned by prosecutor Simon Mintz, Miss McCaig said: ‘It was just awful. I felt completely trapped.’
Howell-Walmsley placed a tracker in her car to follow her movements because he feared she was having an affair, Mold Crown Court heard
She added: ‘I was very anxious and became very scared of him.’
Eventually Miss McCaig told her husband she wanted a divorce.
In March last year, Howell-Walmsley turned up at a Tesco supermarket at Bangor.
Mr Mintz told the jury Miss McCaig hid in the cafe and called the police who found Howell-Walmsley in the car park.
The defendant said he had followed his wife because he thought she was having an affair – and officers found the tracker in her car.
Howell-Walmsley said he planted it about a month before because he was looking for proof of the alleged affair.
He also accepted turning up at Aber, near Bangor, in February.
His behaviour had a ‘damaging’ affect on the victim’s health, the prosecution said.
After he admitted his guilt, Judge David Hale bailed him for a probation report.
‘This is within the band of a community sentence,’ the judge declared.