Lina Tantash who 'relentlessly' stalked ex-boyfriend she believed had agreed to 'love contract' jailed for four years

A woman sent her victim thousands of emails and phone calls
PA Archive/PA Images
Ella Wills22 November 2018
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A woman who "relentlessly harassed" and stalked an ex-boyfriend she believed had agreed to a "21-clause love contract" with her has been jailed for four years.

Lina Tantash "bombarded" her victim with thousands of phone calls and emails.

She also ordered hundreds of pounds of pizzas and taxis in the name of the woman she believed was his new girlfriend.

The 44-year-old, of Caithness Walk, Croydon, who also hired a private investigator to look into his private life, was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court after she was found guilty of two counts of stalking involving serious alarm and distress.

She was also given a restraining order not to contact her victims.

Tantash was convicted of stalking a 49-year-old man between July 2015 and February 2018 and his colleague, a woman aged 39, between last September and February this year.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "Tantash believed she had been in a 10-year relationship with her victim, at the heart of which was a 21-clause 'love contract'.

"But her victim said they had only had a brief relationship in Dublin in 2007 followed by a short friendship and he had spent the years since either placating her or trying to move on from her."

Police Constable Jackie Dempster said: "Tantash relentlessly harassed and stalked her ex-boyfriend on an almost daily basis by sending him emails, social media messages, and contacting his work place for a number of years.

"Tantash also hired a private detective to obtain his contact details and contacted friends, family and known associates of his, offering them money in exchange for his contact details.

"She then started a campaign of harassment against his work colleague because she had convinced herself that this woman was in a new relationship with him because they worked at the same company.

"The victim was subjected to multiple telephone calls at her workplace, which were abusive and insulting, and Tantash also sent a large quantity of emails to her and her workplace, causing her a great deal of alarm and distress.

"The campaign of stalking caused a great deal of alarm and distress to both victims.

"This has been a long investigation and I hope that now justice has been served at court, the victims can finally move forward with their lives."

Additional reporting by Press Association.

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