Former teacher jailed for stalking ex-colleague

A former teacher has been jailed for waging a three-year stalking campaign against an ex-colleague she blamed for getting her sacked.

Barbara Shiells, who worked at Ripon Grammar School in North Yorkshire, began hounding former assistant head teacher Caroline Day after she was dismissed in October 2020.

Prosecutor Felicity Hemlin said Shiells, 60, turned up at Day's home on "numerous occasions" between October 2020 and April 2024 after making it "her personal mission" to "cause serious alarm and distress" to the victim.

Shiells, of Thornborough, near Bedale, was jailed for five and a half years at York Crown Court on Thursday after being found guilty of stalking following a trial in November.

The court was told Shiells would stare at Day through her kitchen window and twice left dog faeces on a disabled ramp, which the victim had installed outside her home for a family member.

It was said Shiells would pass slowly past Day's house "up to 15 times a day".

The defendant also sent "numerous emails from numerous different accounts" to parents at the school, making "completely false" accusations about her and her work, and bombarded her with phone calls from withheld numbers.

The court heard Shiells also published Day's telephone number and address online and set up a blog called 'Ripon Whistleblower' on which she made a "catalogue of accusations" against her.

Hemlin said the "smear campaign" left Day so terrified she stopped going out jogging and walking her dog, which had had a "devastating" effect on her.

In 2022, Shiells had her claim for unfair dismissal rejected after an employment tribunal heard that she had been the subject of an "unprecedented" number of complaints about her "behaviour, attitude, professionalism and ability" at the school.

The court was told Shiells, who previously worked as a PE teacher and personal trainer, had claimed she was unfairly sacked for whistleblowing on her boss, but her claim was rejected by the employment tribunal.

It was said she had sacked her legal team after her conviction in November.

Representing herself at the sentencing hearing via video-link from custody, Shiells told the court she was "sorry" for the distress she had caused.

She added: "I realise my behaviour was wrong and I realise I need to get help for my anger issues. I do not believe I can be rehabilitated in prison."

Passing sentence, Judge Simon Hickey said: "For some reason you blamed your dismissal on Ms Day (who) was completely innocent of any behaviour towards you.

"You became fixated on that woman. You were prepared to weaponise any information that you could to fuel your online hate campaign against Ms Day. These were criminal activities of a very serious nature."

Shiells was also made subject of a lifelong restraining order banning her from contacting Day and publishing any electronic or written material about her.

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