Man sentenced following alcohol fuelled criminality in Wotton-under-Edge

A man has been sentenced to 26 weeks in prison as a result of drunken acts of harassment, criminal damage and threatening behaviour.

John Wild, aged 50 and of Beaumont Row in Wotton-under-Edge, appeared at Cheltenham Magistrates yesterday (Wednesday 30 March).

He was sentenced after previously pleading guilty to three counts of harassment without violence, two counts of criminal damage to property and one count of using threatening/abusive/insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear or provoke unlawful violence.

The Judge heard how Wild's offending took place over a number of months and centred around when he had been drinking alcohol.

The harassment without violence elements saw him target three individuals namely a Reverend who has since resigned due to being targeted by Wild, a family and relative of his with this taking place last summer and earlier this year (2022).

On two occasions in February of this year Wild attended the home addresses of two people and damaged the doors to their houses.

Days later he became verbally abusive towards a member of the public in the street as part of an alcohol fuelled outrage.

As well as receiving the prison sentence, Wild is also the subject of a three year Criminal Behaviour Order which prevents him from:

1. Being in a public place with an open container of alcohol in Wotton-Under-Edge
2. Attending or going within 50 metres of a school near Wotton-Under-Edge
3. Attending or going within 50 metres of a school in Wotton-Under-Edge
4. Going within 50 metres of a property in Coombe, Wotton-Under-Edge
5. Entering the Mid-counties Co-operative store in Long St, Wotton-Under-Edge

Local officers are updating occupiers and staff that are linked to conditions two to four.

Wild was also banned from three other locations in the town. Breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order has a maximum sentence of 5 years imprisonment.

Sergeant Garrett Gloyn from the Stroud Neighbourhood Policing Team said: “In recent months John Wild has misused alcohol regularly and his behaviour towards residents of Wotton and visitors to the town when drunk is awful.

"He has frequently been abusive and threatening to people without provocation and many of his victims are women.

"He has repeatedly been offered, but declined, help for his alcoholism and I hope that this sentence, the Criminal Behaviour Order and the Civil Injunction that we secured in February results in a drastic improvement in his behaviour upon release.