A supermarket boss has won a two-year restraining order against an infatuated colleague who hired a private detective to spy on him.
Marc Klaver, who is in his 30s, was placed under surveillance and had a tracker placed on his car after he rebuffed the advances of besotted Co-op store supervisor Laura Dolman, 33.
The father of three initially asked for a transfer to get away from his unwanted admirer and even left his job to take up a new post with rival supermarket Morrisons.
But he was bombarded with pornographic messages by Dolman and he would see her Skoda car parked up in his neighbourhood in Weston, near Crewe, Cheshire.
He subsequently learnt she had been tracking him after she accosted him in the street and admitted hiring a private eye to place the tracker device on his vehicle. Police who investigated Dolman discovered she had also been sending love letters to Mr Klaver and had messaging his ex-wife.
Laura Dolman (pictured outside Chester Magistrates’ Court), 33, hired a private detective to spy on her boss at a Co-op store in Haslington, Cheshire after she became infatuated with him
Marc Klaver (pictured), who is in his 30s, was placed under surveillance and had a tracker placed on his car after he rebuffed the advances of besotted Dolman
The Co-Op supermarket in Haslington where Mr Klaver and Dolman pair both worked
At Chester Magistrates’ Court Dolman, from Crewe pleaded guilty to stalking involving serious alarm or distress and was banned from contacting Mr Klaver for two years. She has since lost her job.
The court heard Dolman and Mr Klaver worked together at the Co-op in Haslington, Cheshire where he was the manager and Dolman was a team leader.
Yvonne Dobson, prosecuting, said: ‘The parties had a working relationship – however, in April 2022 the victim was made aware that the defendant had feelings for him. The victim made it clear that he did not feel the same way and had no intention to start a relationship and advised the defendant that he was going to contact the area manager to facilitate a store move.
‘In September 2021, the victim left the position with the Co-op and became employed elsewhere but he began to receive 100s of messages from multiple numbers. The messages were grossly offensive.’
Miss Dobson said the messages were sent as if from a third party and included suggestions Dolman had been involved in a fatal accident or that she was about to take her own life.
‘Some of the messages were graphic pornographic images and images of the defendant’s flat,’ Miss Dobson said, ‘The victim did not engage with the messages but began to believe that they were from the defendant.
‘In April 2022, the victim started to notice that the defendant’s vehicle, a Skoda, was in the same area that he was. The victim had moved to a new address in March 2022 and started to take a new route to work. ‘He initially found it strange that he was bumping into the defendant but did not think much of it at first.
‘At the new address he parks up a road and up a side street about 60 yards away from his address. On April 9, the victim was walking his dog with his son. The defendant appeared in her vehicle which he immediately recognised as the defendant’s.
‘The defendant stopped and confronted the victim requesting that they talk.. He asked her to go away. She advised that she had put a tracker on his vehicle. The victim believed this was to try and get him to engage with her and he walked past the defendant and went to his home address.
‘Later, he received a number of voice messages from the defendant. He captured her on his mobile phone as she was crouching behind his vehicle. She appeared to be putting on or removing something from his vehicle.’
The court heard that in the messages, Dolman said that she had hired a private investigator to place the tracker on his vehicle. The following day, April 10, Mr Klaver received a handwritten letter from Dolman delivered to his home.
‘The victim assumed that the defendant had watched him enter his address the day before and therefore knew where he resided,’ the prosecutor said, ‘There were a number of letters at his home address, between 10 April and 13 April There were also letters delivered to the victim’s ex-wife.’
Miss Dobson said that Mr Klaver declined to provide a victim statement. However, in his witness statement to police, he said he had requested Dolman to stop contacting him on multiple occasions and that he ended up having to block her.
‘The victim was scared for his own safety,’ Miss Dobson said, ‘The defendant’s behaviour had a major impact on his mental health. It caused him stress and made him anxious. He would get chronic headaches if he saw her vehicle.
‘He would like it to stop happening. It had an effect on him and his family.. The defendant was of previous good character having had no previous convictions.’
At Chester Magistrates’ Court Dolman (left), from Crewe pleaded guilty to stalking involving serious alarm or distress and was banned from contacting Mr Klaver (right) for two years
In mitigation Dolman’s lawyer Stuart Flood said: ‘In these sort of cases it always difficult to know who the victim is. Police thought she may also have been the victim because both parties have received some unwanted messages.
‘Quite clearly, from the outset, my client had also been the victim of some unwanted and unnecessary message of a like nature. However, it is fair to say that this lady has misread the signals in terms of Mr Klaver’s intentions.
‘He has sent her some messages that have been quite explicit. Some are quite racy, they are very much so. I don’t know quite why he feels he has been affected so much. He is not quite as innocent as he has been portrayed.’
Mr Flood added: ‘She is a lady who has not had many relationships. She had enjoyed her work though that has sadly been lost as a result of his conviction. She was suspended initially, but when her employers found out about this they dismissed her. She is really ashamed and embarrassed, there is no doubt about that.’
‘She accepts that she very foolishly and stupidly put the tracker on his car or got a person to do it and remove it. She said “That was the biggest mistake in my life.” There are no winners here, there are two losers.
‘It is important that the court is aware that this is not all one-way traffic but she acknowledges she has overstepped the mark and done what is inappropriate. She is very keen and eager to get back on the work treadmill.
A policeman friend of Dolman submitted a character reference to the court saying: ‘She is honest, reliable and trustworthy. She is also conscientiousness and caring and feels a great deal of regret about what has happened. I know she is remorseful.
‘The whole thing is completely out of character. It is clear to me that she has learnt a very hard lesson.’
Dolman was also ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work, up to 25 rehabilitation days with the probation service and pay £215 in costs and a victim surcharge.
DailyMail
