1:31 pm, November 24, 2022
A car salesman stripped half-naked and chugged champagne in the street after avoiding jail for a relentless campaign of stalking that left his ex-girlfriend feeling suicidal.
Zack Hurley, 32, from Worsley Mesnes, Wigan, admitted sending a torrent of abuse to former partner Alivia Carta over a five-month period but blamed the situation on his own mental health problems.
A judge ruled that the dealer, who sells cars in the Wigan area, showed signs of ‘genuine remorse’ and let him off with a suspended sentence.
However, shortly after the case was concluded, Hurley was photographed grinning outside Bolton Crown Court as he ripped off his Dolce & Gabbana T-shirt and swilled on a bottle of Moet and Chandon from the boot of his car.
Grinning bodybuilder downs CHAMPAGNE to celebrate avoiding jail for stalking his ex-girlfriend pic.twitter.com/JtrXdeUzza
— DTN NEWS (@DTNNEWUpdates) November 16, 2022
The court had earlier been told that he began to stalk the make-up artist after their relationship deteriorated in the latter part of last year.
Between November 2021 and March 2022, he launched a sustained campaign that included turning up uninvited to her home and relentlessly contacting her via phone.
The Daily Mirror reports that a prosecutor told the hearing that Hurley’s actions had been ‘designed to maximise fear and distress’.
Edmund Potts, prosecuting, said: ‘She describes the defendant as having been jealous and controlling. Following the demise of the relationship, the defendant physically stalked Ms Carta, turning up uninvited at her home address on several occasions.
‘He repeatedly contacted her by various means including phone calls. She blocked the phone number messages were coming from but he would simply message from a new number unknown to her previously.
‘There were sometimes dozens in a single day, all from withheld numbers.
‘He also sent aggressive messages and continued sending messages regardless of the lack of response.
‘There were well over 100 messages received between November and January.
‘In particular, the defendant informed her that he knew that she was not at home demonstrating that he was at her home address and that he knew her whereabouts.
‘He repeatedly accused her of having sex with other men and made threats of violence against Ms Carta’s new partner.
‘It was persistent offending over a prolonged period designed to maximise fear and distress. With regard to harm, there was very serious distress caused.’
In a statement to police, Ms Carta said: ‘Zack took over my life and I was terrified of him.
‘I have been left suffering with poor mental health and I was left feeling suicidal as a result of his actions.’
Salesman’s behaviour down to ‘underlying psychological reasons’
Hurley’s legal team admitted that their client’s behaviour had been ‘abhorrent’ but insisted that ‘underlying psychological reasons’ were to blame.
They also claimed that sending him to prison would affect his immediate family, as well as his car sales business.
Niamh McGinty, mitigating, said: ‘The offence was abhorrent but he was acting under a misguided attempt at reconciliation.
‘The tone of the messages is pleading and apologetic at times although he recognises that his behaviour caused alarm, distress, and fear.
‘He accepts that he became obsessed and fixated with the relationship and the end of it. He believes there are underlying psychological reasons as to why he behaved this way.
‘He has engaged with hypnotherapy to address the underlying cause for his behaviour and he has undergone anger management therapy.
‘He had something of a difficult childhood which may have had some impact on him as an adult and may go some way to explain his actions.
‘He has regular contact with his two children and sees them every weekend, has opened a bar and has another business in car sales as well, which employs two people.
‘He presents as a genuinely remorseful man. This has been a serious wake-up call.’
The amateur body builder handed himself in to police, which led to them finding a 31-plant cannabis factory at his home.
He admitted stalking and production of cannabis, and after hearing all the evidence, Recorder Simon Hilton handed Hurley 20 months in jail suspended for two years.
Hurley was also ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work plus 20 days of rehabilitation activity, banned from contacting his victim indefinitely under a restraining order, and told to complete a Building Better Relationships programme.
He hit the headlines last year when, along with three friends, he breached police checkpoints to pose for selfies next to a volcano as it erupted on the island of La Palma in the Canaries.
Hurley was also previously convicted of animal cruelty for sending his three American Bully dogs abroad for outlawed ‘cosmetic surgery’ that saw their ears cropped.
