Chess coach sent to jail for stalking and harassing pregnant woman, made her feel ‘suicidal’
A chess coach has been sent to prison for 28 months after he was found guilty of harassing and blackmailing a woman.
Paul Keevil, a chess coach in the UK, has been sentenced to 28 months in prison for stalking and harassing a woman in her 20s. According to reports, Keevil and the woman had a history of sexual encounters before she decided to enter a new relationship and became pregnant, and that is when he began to blackmail her. He tried to publicly shame her by calling her a sex worker.
He allegedly met the woman, a university student, on Seeking Arrangement in 2018. After a short relationship, he continued sending her money and threatened her when she started a new relationship.
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In one message, he allegedly told her, "The best thing you can do right now is say ok and that means sleeping with each other (willingly), it means flirting with each other and it means nice messages and emojis. And yes it means telling a few people we're together. If you do that, any threats."
The victim also complained that he pretended to be the baby's father and contacted the hospital, which made her suicidal. "His behaviour is so obsessive. He genuinely believes that I am his girlfriend no matter how many times I say ‘No'," she said.
"He is that obsessive I believe that he will either rape me or kill me and this is making me sick and exhausted. I have a baby and I am scared for his safety. I am also scared that if Paul sees me in public with the child he will snatch my baby to get me to speak to him, " she said.
The woman's partner also allegedly left her because of Keevil's behaviour.
The judge told Keevil," You subjected the complainant to a sustained course of conduct which was aimed at pressuring her into resurrecting an intimate relationship with you and to demand repayment of monies which you had previously gifted to her.."
"You consistently refused to take no for an answer – you were effectively blackmailing her. She has found herself almost unable to cope with life and has been driven to consider suicide as the only way out of a set of circumstances which you have imposed upon her by your obsessive and unrelenting behaviour towards her. She has described that her life has become a nightmare from which even now she can see little escape. "
