Jealous husband and former conservative councillor who posed as successful businessman with '7ORY' reg plate stalked his ex-wife in campaign of terror

A jealous husband and former conservative councillor who posed as a successful businessman has been convicted of stalking his ex-wife in a campaign of terror.

Anthony De Havilland, whose real name is Tony Ramsden, incessantly stalked his wife Simone Jackson after she left him in early 2023 for his dominating and possessive behaviour at their home in Poole, Dorset. 

The former member of Bournemouth council, who once had the personalised number plate of '7ORY', was said to have controlled his wife's finances, using her money to pay off hefty credit card bills, and isolated her from her friends and family. 

Ms Jackson, 33, said her ex-husband lived a 'champagne lifestyle on a lemonade budget', enjoying all the 'accoutrement of wealth' including a Ferrari, a Porsche, holidays to Mexico and Vietnam, which he was unable to afford. 

De Havilland was found guilty of stalking after a court heard he instilled 'a genuine sense of fear' in Ms Jackson by 'bombarding' her with phone calls and Whatsapp messages and 'tracking her movements'. 

Miss Jackson moved out of their flat in early 2023 after growing sick of De Havilland's controlling behaviour and went to stay with a friend at first. But the 54-year-old refused to let her 'get away from him'.

She was on the verge of signing a contract to move into a flat until De Havilland intervened.

De Havilland wrongly feared Miss Jackson was having an affair with her new potential landlord and so emailed him to 'torpedo' and 'put the kibosh' on her plans of moving into a flat.

He then messaged Miss Jackson, telling her 'I am sure he fancied you' and followed it with a cruel jibe that she would 'probably get rent free after the first month'.

Leah Dillon, prosecuting, told the court that De Havillland had 'no right' to get involved and this was an example of him trying to control the victim.

On June 2 De Havilland called Miss Jackson 120 times in the space of a few hours.

Ms Jackson said she got a sense that she was being watched and followed and on June 7 last year she had the first of several encounters with her ex.

She had been walking by herself along the edge of Poole Harbour at Sandbanks and was heading back to her Range Rover when she said De Havilland 'jumped out' in front of her.

A frightening four mile pursuit then ensued as De Havilland followed her from Sandbanks to Bournemouth police station. 

Ms Jackson said: 'He started banging on the windscreen and I locked the doors.

'As I drove away I had to swerve to avoid him and then saw him run to his Porsche and start following me. I drove to the police station and I was on the phone to the police the whole time, adrenaline through the roof shaking and scared.

'This was at 9.30pm and I stayed in the police station until 4am because I just didn't feel safe to leave.'

On June 13 while Ms Jackson was visiting a nail salon De Havilland walked by and then entered. She said: 'I told him I didn't want him to be there and that he needed to leave. I felt threatened by him.'

On June 15 she was with a male friend outside the Tesco store on Sandbanks when De Havilland appeared. He told her to smile and took a snap of the pair before sending her a cruel photo message telling her she looked 'grim, miserable and vacant' in the picture.

De Havilland was said to have sent a chill down Miss Jackson's spine by sending her a photo of another friend's property she was house sitting for on the following day. He messaged: "I am outside the flat. It has come to this' 

De Havilland was arrested by police on June 17. He denied the offences and claimed his ex-wife had been stalking him.

When he followed her to the nail salon, he claimed she was aware of his morning routine of visiting a gym and then a coffee shop nearby and so knew he would be there.

But magistrates in Poole rejected his version of events after being satisfied that De Havilland had been unable to accept his marriage was over.

He was found guilty of stalking between May 15 and June 17 last year and will be sentenced next month.

Ms Jackson said: 'After he was arrested he had bail conditions to keep away from me and I had no further contact with him.

'He had to plead not guilty because he had to try and save face. His thought process is that he was 100 per cent not guilty. He believes his own lies.'

'The verdict was a massive relief. For my own sanity I needed the legal system to believe in me and give me justice.'

De Havilland used to go by his birth name of Tony Ramsden and once served on Bournemouth council.

In 2013 the planning agent was jailed for 10 months for dishonesty offences. He had obtained a £25,000 loan from a former business partner without declaring his bankruptcy status.

He reinvented himself as Anthony De Havilland after he got out of jail.

He met Ms Jackson in a bar in Bournemouth and they married in Cancun, Mexico, in February 2019 after a 12 month romance.

They launched a flower shop business in Westbourne in 2020 and lived in a flat next to Parkstone Golf Club in the posh Lilliput suburb of Poole.

Ms Jackson told the court: 'With his money, it was a case of him having a champagne lifestyle on a lemonade budget. It was very much credit cards that he ran up to the max and I helped him pay them off.

'He bought a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti which got taken off him. We had holidays in Mexico, Vietnam, Thailand and Spain but it was on credit cards.

'With him it was all bravado, an image thing.

'But he isolated me from my friends and family. He would not be very nice to them and would create a bad atmosphere. It led to rows and I felt like I was given an ultimatum of him or my family.

'It was easier to go along with it because it led to arguments.

'I never had any money, he controlled the finances. I knew the florists was making money but I never saw any of it.

'Eventually I didn't like the controlling element and I just felt like I needed to get out. I realised I wanted children one day but not with him.'

Ms Dillon put to De Havilland that he was a stalker who instilled a 'genuine sense of fear' in his ex-wife.

In finding De Havilland guilty of stalking, district judge Orla Austin said: 'I am satisfied that Simone Jackson was a credible witness.

'Mr De Havilland gave evidence in a way that suggested to me that he was unable to accept that the relationship was over and that he turned up where she would be and he bombarded her with messages. It was harassment.'