Author who waged poison pen hate campaign is convicted of harassment

An author who waged a bitter hate campaign against her two cousins after harbouring an unfounded belief they mocked her as a child has been found guilty of harassment.

Jessica Wheatley, 27, bombarded Kaylie Hull and Jemma Steele with scores of offensive messages and emails after convincing herself they had called her 'crater face' and gossiped about her weight.

Miss Hull and Miss Steele, who are sisters, insisted they had no knowledge of Wheatley's childhood grievance which is thought to have dated back 13 years but were subjected to a torrent of abuse calling them 'sly b*****s' and 'toxic liars'.

She also claimed she had 'psychic' powers which proved the pair had ridiculed her to their friends.

In her messages, Wheatley - who has published two books - accused mother of two Miss Hull of smearing her as a sex worker.

Wheatley added: 'Repeat after me, I command all the demons to leave my body. God knows the things you have said about me.'

Another series of texts read: 'Do not be evil. It's not good for the soul.. Sort your dirty mouth out and look after your kids, you waste of space. I swear I know you have chatted s*** about me. I will be fighting back, do not worry.'

Wheatley, from Nantwich in Cheshire, also harangued Miss Hull's older sibling Miss Steele, telling her: 'Keep me out of your mouths.

'You do not know me. I know what you tell people about me or what you have heard. I am not stupid. Stop talking about me. Stay out of my life.'

In a statement, Miss Hull said she was left 'exhausted with anxiety and worry' because of Wheatley's 'continuous and disturbing messages' and was also afraid to let her young son play out in case her cousin was lurking nearby.

Miss Steele said that whenever she saw Wheatley's name 'pop up' on her phone screen it filled her with dread, 'not knowing whether it was an apology or an attack'.

Wheatley has now been convicted at Warrington Magistrates' Court of harassment towards the two sisters over a seven-month period.

She was banned from contacting them for five years under the terms of a restraining order.

The court heard Wheatley had been babysat as a child by Miss Steele and by the age of 14 treated her as a confidante and all appeared well with the family.

But Miss Steele and Miss Hull were suddenly subjected to abusive messages from July last year.

Messages to Miss Steele read: 'Shut up Jemma, both s*** stirrers, you are both sly evil b*****s and toxic liars. You listen to the rumours Kaylie was saying about me and you both treat me like I am evil.

'Do not send toxic energy my way. Make no mistake, if you have crossed me, if you or her cross me you are doomed. I will be fighting back, do not worry.'

Miss Steele, who tried to block Wheatley on social media accounts, told the hearing: 'Some were apologies but mainly followed up with aggressive messages.

'She accused myself and Kaylie of doing something against her and saying things, but despite us asking her we never found out what it was we were supposed to have done.

'I do not know where this has come from. It is not a conversation we'd ever had. She is referring to things we have no clue about.

'The messages made me feel angry and upset and have just come from nowhere.. It makes me feel that she is unstable.

'It's hurtful that I'm getting this barrage of messages for no reason at all. She would not give us any answers and would not listen or stop. She was just aggressive to us.

'I spoke to her with understanding and compassion but it became apparent she was not being reasonable. I initially thought we were in the wrong but speaking to the police made me realise her behaviour was unacceptable.'

Miss Hull told how Wheatley sent her 98 messages and 11 voice notes over one 24-hour period in which her harasser said: 'You only think about yourself. You do not know how much you affected me over the years.

'You are an evil, vindictive, narcissistic and bitter and you are turning into an old hag. You said things about me that are not true. None of you know me, keep it that way.'

Miss Hull said: 'The messages were aggressive, angry, calling me names and all sorts. She made me feel horrible, making out that I'm doing something but she never explained what this vendetta was she's got against me.

'I did not want to pick the phone up and I did not want to go out. I left my mobile phone there and just let them ping away. I still do not know what they were about.'

Miss Hull said she tried to discuss the issue with her cousin but that Wheatley would just 'blow up like a bottle of pop'.

She told of an incident when Wheatley turned up at her house unannounced a week or two before Christmas.

Miss Hull recalled: 'I was doing the ironing and my little boy was upstairs. She's banging on the window screaming and shouting. Eventually she knew I was not going to let her in and she kicked a bush on the way out.

'It was awful. I had to take my son to football training and I did not know if she was going to be out there too. My mind works overtime with worry.

'I feel exhausted with anxiety. I feel that she will show up whenever I go out to the car.

'My sister has not only had to worry about me but the children. When she started harassing her I felt a huge amount of guilt.

'I want Jessica to know and understand that what she has done to me has made me a person I never wanted to be. This has completely broken my self-confidence.' '

Prosecutor Katie Johnson said: 'In police interview, Jessica admitted to having sent the messages to Kaylie but did not view the messages as harassment.

'She believed Kaylie and her sister were being horrible to her previously and spreading rumours and false lies to tarnish her reputation and make her look bad.'

Wheatley herself told the hearing: 'I was verbally abused by them in my childhood and this is why this has happened. Kaylie said to me directly I am a prostitute.

'She insulted me about my weight in in the past whilst anyone with acne was a "crater face" and I have had acne. That is how they have been through my entire life.

'Yes, there are a lot of messages but this is my way to sort of stop what they are doing.

'In my eyes I am not attempting to harass them. I am trying to get to the bottom of how I feel so to improve my quality of life. I wanted to change their opinion, to change the feeling I have been surrounded with for years. They won't go away.

'They are just taking their own perception of what I'm trying to do. But what was the alternative? With the anger I had inside and the damage I had inside, I could have easily turned violent but I did not.

'I just think that they have lied and committed perjury. The bigger picture matters. I'm going to make a film on it and the truth will come out.'

Wheatley was fined £300 and ordered to pay £770 in costs and a victim surcharge.

Magistrate Elizabeth Geddes told Wheatley: 'Kaylie and Jemma's evidence was clear, consistent, credible and supported by evidence.

'We have considered your evidence regarding the background to the case but there was no supporting documentation.'