Woman shares horror of harassment by Pitsea robber

Corrine Smith, the ex-partner of Gary McCready, said his attack on a pizza delivery man, robbing him of his car, “should never have happened”.

The 37-year-old man of Partridge Green, Pitsea was jailed last week for eight years for the attack in September last year.

This was just two months after McCready was spared jail for breaching a restraining order against Ms Smith, where he called her and went to her Basildon home, despite being banned, in June last year.

Ms Smith, 34, a mum of five, was dismayed at McCready receiving a suspended sentence for the breach, as it took place days after he was spared jail for a previous attempted robbery.

She said: “When he’s out of prison, I felt like I was in prison. this should never have happened.

“That poor pizza man incident, that should never have happened.

“I got cameras around the front and back, I called the police about four times.

Victim - Corrine Smith

“He was trying to get in, banging the doors. He goes to the back and threatens to jump off in front of my son.

“The police came and he got arrested. I had the evidence, the messages, the threats and him being at my door. But he got a suspended sentence.

“No one should suffer what me and my kids have suffered. I had to go and get the restraining order changed to include social media.”

During McCready’s sentence Basildon Crown Court heard the original restraining order was in place due to an assault in 2019.

Ms Smith said that his eight-year prison sentence for robbery was welcomed, but she is still concerned for her safety.

She added: “He can be the most charming person but then nasty, and he knows how to play the system.

“We can start to regain a bit of normal life but he should have get an indeterminate sentence.

“It feels like a slap in the face still.

“It’s a mix of emotions. It’s always going to be there, the PTSD [post traumatic stress disorder] is not going away.”

Robber - Gary McCready was jailed for eight years