A decade of 'torment': Ontario man jailed a 3rd time for harassing B.C. woman

For years, Darren Ross Noddle harassed his former grade school classmate. He showed up at her office unannounced, sent her lewd emails and strange packages, and even filed a lawsuit against her.

Now, the Ontario man is in jail for the third time for tormenting her. Earlier this month, Noddle was sentenced to 226 days behind bars for criminal harassment of a Victoria woman he became fixated on after she broke off their brief friendship.

Noddle's most recent conviction concerns a series of packages he sent last winter that served to "torment and plague" their target, according to a B.C. Supreme Court judgment.

"The communications have instilled fear in [the victim]," Justice Sharon Matthews wrote in her decision to convict Noddle earlier this year.

"She said that she did not know when he might show up at her office or turn angry. This evidence demonstrates that she feels both physically and psychologically unsafe. Her evidence  … shows how she has been psychologically worn down and has fear about her emotional wellbeing."

'He emailed her that all signs lead him to her'

The woman's terrified response underlines a long history of harassment that's laid out in the court decision.

The pair first met in grade school and reconnected in 2007, when they formed an emotional connection and began exchanging emails, the victim testified. Noddle was living in Ontario at the time.

She says there was nothing physical or sexual between them, but she had to cut off communication in the fall of 2008, when she started to feel uncomfortable after Noddle's emails took on a romantic edge.

At first, he respected her wishes, but by 2011 he was emailing her again, and she gradually became more anxious about the content.

In October 2013, things escalated.

"He left a voicemail for her singing a song on her birthday. He sent her an email with sexual content describing multiple places he wanted to make love to her. He sent her an email saying that there are 31 steps to his house which was the same number as her birthday. He emailed her that all signs lead him to her," Matthews wrote.

By the end of the year, Noddle's target had had enough. She emailed Noddle to say he was scaring her, and if he didn't lay off, she would have to get other people involved.

And then, one Friday in December 2013, she checked her office voicemail from home. There was a message from Noddle — who she believed to be in Ontario — saying he was behind her office with flowers and wanted to take her out for dinner.

"He said that the angels were telling him to stay," the judge wrote.

The woman called police. On the advice of officers, she, her partner, and their dog were all forced to flee their home and stay in a hotel until Noddle was arrested and charged with harassment.

He was convicted in October 2014 and sentenced to time served, but not before he showed up at her office a second time while he was out on bail awaiting trial.

Under the terms of his three-year probation order, Noddle was barred from contacting his target.

'He wished their souls had never met'

But the communications did not stop. One day in 2015, she received an envelope from Noddle that held only the link to a website. The URL was her name, and the website contained a letter signed by Noddle.

"He told her he had come to see her because he felt suicidal and that he wanted medical help. In the letter, he said he wished their souls had never met and that he wished they would never meet again," Matthews wrote.

The next year, Noddle filed a lawsuit naming her and the justice ministers of every province and territory as defendants. The claim concerned a drug that he alleged had damaged his body and mind.

The contact didn't end there. In 2016, Noddle sent her a CD containing documents related to the lawsuit, breaching the terms of his probation. He was sent back to jail for that crime this spring.

'She needs them to stop'

And then last December, just one month after his probation ended, he began sending her strange packages. There were four in total, and the postmarks showed him moving closer and closer to B.C.

The contents, concerning the legal proceedings filed by Noddle, "were largely incomprehensible in content, but they were not benign," the judge said.

"She finds it alarming that he continues the contact despite that she has asked him to stop, the police have told him to stop, he was arrested and convicted, and there has been a probation order that prohibited contact with her," Matthews said.

"She is tired of these communications that have been ongoing for 10 years. She testified that she needs them to stop."

Under the terms of his latest sentence, Noddle will have to serve three years of probation after his release from jail, and he is once again prohibited from having any contact with the woman he targeted.