A misogynist bragged that he had been ‘brought up to slap a woman’ – in a letter to his victim sent after he was jailed for beating her up.

Jailing Scott Hadlow for two years on Thursday afternoon, Judge Maria Lamb coolly observed: “Let me put you right on that one. It isn’t.”

The judge had been told the recipient of the letters had been left so upset by them that she ‘projectile vomited’ on receiving the mean missives.

Hadlow, 43, was said to have previously been in a ‘toxic’ relationship with his victim and, last summer, was given 18 months for attacking her.

Having been released early on licence he was recalled to prison in November last year, Oxford Crown Court heard.

On November 9, he penned a letter on notepaper marked with the HMP Bullingdon letterhead and bragged that his victim would ‘never be free of him’.

“I don’t believe what I’m doing is wrong. It’s a slap,” he said.

Hadlow told his former partner that he had been ‘brought up to slap a woman’ and that sometimes it ‘had to be done’.

“Ha, ha,” he said – adding that writing the note had brought a smile to his face.

The next letter was more apologetic in tone, telling her that he loved her.

A police officer contacted HMP Bullingdon to prevent Hadlow from sending any more letters via the prison post.

But the wily writer managed to get past the countermeasures. One note, sent in early January, had been posted from Oxford rather than via Bullingdon’s postal system. Honor Fitzgerald, prosecuting, said: “It seems he’s managed to get this out of the prison and sent to [the victim].”

The defendant’s ex-partner said the sight of the letters had caused her to ‘projectile vomit or fit’.

In a victim personal statement read to the court by Ms Fitzgerald, she said the harassment left her feeling ‘like a prisoner in my own home as even when Mr Hadlow is in prison he is still able to contact me’.

“He clearly has no respect for court orders,” she added.

Hadlow, of Luther Street, Oxford, pleaded guilty to breaching a restraining order. He had 150 previous offences on his record, including three for flouting the same restraining order.

Judge Lamb told him: “It seems to me obvious that somebody in respect of whom a restraining order is made for their protection, who’s been assaulted not just on that one occasion but previously by someone else is entitled to expect the protection of the court.”

Mitigating, Emma Hornby had asked the judge to take the victim’s impact statement with a ‘pinch of salt’ given the lack of corroborating medical evidence.

Her client had ‘taken responsibility’ for his actions by pleading guilty in the magistrates’ court. The couple had a ‘protracted history’ and a toxic relationship, she said.

She asked the judge to consider suspending any sentence, saying her client had stayed clean from drugs and out of trouble for a number of months. “This is his opportunity to change,” she said.

Read more from this author

This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward