A domestic abuse campaigner who endured a prolonged stalking campaign has said she fears her tormentor could be released from prison within months under the Government’s early-release scheme.
Paris Shears, 31, said she was concerned that Jakob Ward, 28, could return to the community around nine months after his sentencing, despite receiving a 32-month prison term.
Ward, from Tidworth, Wiltshire, was jailed at Winchester Crown Court after admitting stalking Shears in a manner that caused serious alarm or distress, creating a purported intimate image of an adult, theft, possessing cannabis and possessing a knuckleduster.
He had been remanded in custody for six weeks before being sentenced last Friday.
Victim Says Harassment Forced Her to Leave Home
Shears said Ward, a family friend she had trusted and regarded as a brother, subjected her to a campaign of harassment that forced her to leave her home with her three children and stay in Airbnb accommodation.
Ward had known Shears since she was 16 and was also the father of her nephew.
The court heard that he used an alias on Instagram to impersonate another man and send Shears AI-generated images depicting her naked.
He also sent her packages containing her own underwear, sex toys and a bag containing his semen.
Shears said the experience left her frightened for her safety. At one point, she slept with a knife under her pillow because she feared Ward might come to her home.
DNA Evidence Helped Identify the Perpetrator
According to the court proceedings, Ward used a false identity to contact Shears and continued sending messages despite her requests to be left alone.
When she asked him to stop, he reportedly told her that he possessed items belonging to her and sent her location using What3Words.
Shears went to a police station because she feared for her safety. While she was there, she received another message from the anonymous account stating: “Don’t worry, I’m not a threat.”
Ward was identified through DNA analysis of the semen sent to Shears.
She said she found it difficult to comprehend that the person responsible was someone she had trusted to look after her home while she was away on holiday.
Court Hears of Victim’s Fear of Being Attacked
In a statement read to the court, Shears described the effect the stalking campaign had on her sense of security.
She said her greatest fear was that someone would break into her home and rape or kill her.
Sentencing Ward, Judge Christopher Parker KC described the campaign as “despicable, depraved” and “completely incomprehensible”.
Ward had admitted the offences and was sentenced to 32 months in prison.
Shears Raises Concerns Over Government Early-Release Scheme
Shears said she was relieved that Ward had been imprisoned but feared that the Government’s early-release arrangements could allow him to return to the community before serving the full term.
“Whilst I am relieved he is behind bars, the reality is that under the government’s early release arrangements, he could be back in the community far sooner than that sentence suggests,” she said.
She criticised the rules allowing prisoners serving sentences of less than four years to become eligible for release after serving one-third of their sentence.
Shears said she was particularly concerned that stalkers, domestic abuse offenders and people convicted of coercive control were not excluded from the arrangements.
Taking into account the time Ward had already spent on remand, she estimated that he could be released in around nine months.
She said this would leave her with limited time to relocate, rebuild her life and establish a safe home for her children.
“I walked into court hoping to see justice served. Instead, I walked out feeling like another victim of the very system I have spent so long fighting to change,” she said.
“His sentence will end long before the consequences of his actions do.”
Campaigner Calls for Changes to Sentencing Rules
Shears has campaigned for changes to the justice system following her own experiences of domestic abuse.
She travelled to Parliament on October 19 after a petition she launched attracted more than 107,000 signatures.
Her campaign includes a call for offenders who plead guilty at the last minute to be denied a reduced sentence.
The demand follows her experience with a former partner who pleaded guilty on the day his trial was due to begin.
Thousands of Prisoners Released Early Under Government Scheme
Around 1,350 prisoners, including people convicted of violent offences, domestic abuse and burglary, were released early in two waves during October under the Government’s scheme, which is intended to ease overcrowding in prisons.
Dozens are believed to have been recalled to custody after allegedly breaching their release conditions or committing further offences.
The Government also released more than 70,000 prisoners under an earlier early-release scheme introduced two months after the 2024 general election.
Government Defends Early-Release Measures
A Government spokesperson said ministers had inherited a prison system facing the risk of collapse and argued that action had been necessary to prevent police from having to stop making arrests.
The spokesperson said the Government was taking measures to protect the public, including deploying more neighbourhood police officers, strengthening licence controls, expanding electronic tagging, increasing investment in probation services and creating an additional 14,000 prison places.
The Government said these measures were intended to improve public protection while addressing pressure on the prison system.
