Prison term for Ipswich stalker

A MUSIC teacher who bombarded women in Suffolk with phone calls, took secretive photos and spread vicious rumours is behind bars today.

Nuisance phone caller Clive Betts had been given three restraining orders after he harassed two female members of staff at Suffolk College and a bar worker.

However the 53-year-old continuously broke the orders and has now landed himself in jail after a judge at Ipswich Crown Court invoked a suspended ten-month prison sentence.

Patrick Hockley, owner of the Waterfront Café in Woodbridge which Betts also plagued with calls last year, said he was pleased the former freelance photographer had finally ended up in prison.

Mr Hockley said: “Clive Betts has got his comeuppance. I hope he now goes away.

“The guy needs help. I hope he learns by going to jail.”

Betts had been due to appear in court on Monday to answer charges of breaching his suspended sentence which he had received as a result of breaching a restraining order and harassing two women.

However he failed to appear and judge Neil McKittrick, who had spared Betts jail when he handed him a suspended sentence in January, ordered a warrant without bail so police could bring him back to court.

Pc Michael Pereira from Suffolk police's response team then arrested Betts at his Grimwade Street home in Ipswich at around 11am on Tuesday and took him to court where he appeared to admit the offences.

At the hearing in January, judge McKittrick told Betts, “women have the right to lead their lives without your attention and your slurs,” before handing him a ten-month jail sentence, suspended for 18-months.

At Tuesday's court hearing that sentence was activated and Betts was also told that the restraining orders put in place to prevent him harassing the three women would remain until July 27, 2008.

Are you a victim of Clive Betts? Contact The Evening Star news desk on 01473 324788 or e-mail starnews@eveningstar.co.uk

Clive Betts' previous court appearances

n In June he was given a £100 fine by magistrates after subjecting the Waterfront Café in Woodbridge to a deluge of more than 200 abusive and eerie calls after he claimed he was verbally abused on a visit there.

The fine was also punishment for pursuing a female lecturer at Suffolk College, who he believed owed him money, by continuously phoning her and sending her text messages.

When she refused to speak to him he followed her to her workplace and told students in the college that she was a drug dealer.

n In August he was banned from driving for 20 months after admitting getting behind the wheel of his campervan while drunk.

n In January Betts was handed a ten-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, for breaching his restraining order, plus concurrent suspended sentences for two separate cases of harassment.