A STALKING victim fears for her life after her ex-boyfriend walked free from court despite orchestrating an aggressive campaign of terror for more than two years.
Jess Adams and her new partner Jodie Harris have been forced to move house and are dismayed after obsessive Stuart Spires avoided jail.
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The ex-squaddie, 52, would park up outside their home in Dagenham, east London, for hours, as well as turn up at the care home where they both work after Jessica, 36, dumped him.
He also smashed up her car, slashed the tyres and disabled the headlights before filling them with expanding foam which mechanics warned could’ve caused the car to explode.
Jessica and Jodie say they put themselves at risk by confronting Spires – including in the middle of the night – to get video evidence after police allegedly refused to take action.
Their doorbell camera also caught someone at their front door wearing a Guy Fawkes-style mask used in the film V for Vendetta – before the man put glue through the keyhole, they claim.
However, appearing at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court last Friday (February 7), Spires – who served in South America, Afghanistan and Iraq with the Royal Artillery – walked free after being handed an 18-month restraining order and community service.
Jess told The Sun: “It’s appalling. There’s no justice in it, he’s had no impact on his life. The court hasn’t even set up any kind of safeguarding for us.”
Spires had denied two counts of stalking, but was but was convicted of both counts. He also admitted a count of criminal damage and one of possession of cannabis.
Jess said: “Just because he’s got a conviction doesn’t mean we’ve been given justice.”
She said the ordeal started in late 2021 and was first reported to police that November, but quickly escalated and by the following spring Spires was seen outside the home she shares with Jodie, 32.
It’s appalling. There’s no justice in it, he’s had no impact on his life. The court hasn’t even set up any kind of safeguarding for us.
Jess Adams
Over the next couple of years, the issue worsened to the point they were scared to leave their home, with him often parked up on their cul-de-sac in the morning as they left to go to work.
Jodie claims he shouted from the car “get ready for the storm” while she was coming out of a Co-op early in his campaign of abuse.
But Jess said police kept saying “where’s the evidence?”.
She said: “It’s hard to get evidence. He wore masks, it was so premeditated.
“The fact that we put ourselves at risk just to get evidence, just so we could get it to court, and to get the conviction.
“We guarantee something will happen again. We don’t know what to do, we’ve moved home but it’s only a matter of time before he figures out where we live.”
In one video, sent to The Sun, Jodie chased a hooded Spires before confronting him as he got into his car, parked down an alley away from the flat.
Jodie said: “I’m up like literally every hour of the night thinking what’s going to happen?
“Everything he’s done has got worse and worse. He’s going to be thinking I can do whatever I like. I’m just waiting for what happens next, then maybe it’ll be too late.”
She added: “We sent them so much – I had it in my head I needed to get his face on camera. We put ourselves at risk again and again. The system is completely broken.”
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Jodie said she consulted with multiple mechanics after they spotted Spires tampering with their car in November 2023, and found he’d put expanding foam in their headlights – and was told the outcome could’ve been deadly.
“They said if the car had been turned on it could have caused a fire because it was so hot,” said Jodie.
“I ran downstairs when I saw him, but if I hadn’t noticed him we would have got in the car the next morning and switched it on to go to work.
“It could have been a totally different outcome.”
Jess added: “He’s so arrogant, he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care if he kills one of us.”
She said: “Every day now we check the car, it’s become a routine. We check no one’s around when we go to work and when we come back. We check the front door to see if anything’s been put through.
“We’re constantly on edge.”
‘SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE’
Jess and Jodie are campaigning for police to take reports of stalking and harassment more seriously.
Jess said: “Something has got to change for the police to take it more seriously from the beginning. We’ve been going through this since 2022 and only just got a conviction.
“Fortunately, we haven’t been physically injured but we have been mentally terrorised. For anybody else, they might not be so lucky.”
Jodie said: “We’re still fearing for our lives because he’s still out and about.
“It’s horrible and the police could’ve done something to stop it straight away if things were in place.”
She said at the start of the ordeal, when she’d ring up to report Spires, “I would say all the time, we’ll be in a documentary, you’ll see us. You remember our names”.
She added: “He could wake up one day and think ‘I’m gonna go and do whatever to these two’, and it’ll be too late, and they could’ve stopped it.”
Jess and Spires met in 2019 and got into a relationship before splitting in 2021.
She said while they were together there were plenty of red flags, which she eventually could no longer put up with.
She said he “turned obsessive” after the split because he “couldn’t handle the break-up”.
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Jess said Spires’ behaviour ramped up after she began dating Jodie in around May 2022.
“He’d be sitting up outside our property, following us to work, appearing outside our flat,” she explained.
“We’d wake up in the morning to him parked outside the house. Our cars smashed, our property smashed. And we had all the CCTV and the police still didn’t take it seriously.
“They just said they’d investigate. All we kept getting was ‘we need more evidence’.
“He’d get arrested, then he’d be let out on bail, but he’d continue doing what he was doing. He wasn’t taking any notice of what the police were saying to him.”
At one stage, someone wearing a mask was caught putting glue in the door lock while they were on holiday.
It wasn’t until they spotted Spires drilling holes into the car and putting expanding foam in the headlights – and got video evidence of his face, that police “started taking it seriously”, leading up to the court case, Jess said.
SENTENCING
During the sentencing earlier this month, Jenn Ambrose, prosecuting, said: “Since the relationship came to an end, he began stalking her and her new partner.
“They would see the defendant driving past them, showing up at their workplace. He caused damage to a car and stood outside their addresses.”
The court heard Spires caused £250-worth of damage when he drilled holes in the headlights and squirted in expanding foam.
Referring to a victim impact statement from Ms Adams, Ms Ambrose said: “She set up CCTV at her address. She talks about checking her CCTV on a daily basis.
“When she heard noises she believed perhaps that the defendant was there.
“The victim personal statements outline that there was a significant impact on their day-to-day lives.”
Alex Shanks, defending said: “Mr Spires served in the army for a period of nine years.
“Mr Spires maintains his innocence in relation to the stalking charges.”
But he added: “He has no intention of ever being in contact with them.”
The lawyer added: “He is looking to work in the future. He is living on savings, I understand.”
Sentencing Spires, District Judge Paul Donegan said: “The overall offending is serious enough for a community order.”
Spires, of Ware, Hertfordshire, was given an 18 month community order, and he will have to undergo 30 days of a rehabilitation activity requirement.
He will also have to complete 60 hours of unpaid work.
“That is designed to punish you for your behaviour,” said the judge.
He was issued with a restraining order, which means that he will be prevented from having any contact with either of the victims for 18 months.
“That means speaking to them, contacting them via social media, waving at them in the street, showing any signs in the street,” the judge added.
He will have to pay a £114 victim surcharge and £300 in prosecution costs.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told The Sun: “Stuart Spires was arrested twice between January and April 2024 and released with bail conditions on both occasions.
“Between April 2024 and August 2024, when the case file was sent to CPS, officers carried out multiple enquiries including gathering statements, including six statement from victims and CCTV evidence.
“Any delays in the filed being reviewed by the CPS cannot be commented on by ourselves.”
The Sun has contacted the Crown Prosecution Service for comment.
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