Man who stalked former GP given nine-year prison sentence
A man who stalked his former GP after being barred from the practice has been jailed for nine years – ‘one of the longest sentences in the country’ for the offence.
David Taylor, 56, from Hale in Greater Manchester, stalked his former GP between August 2024 and March this year.
He was sentenced at Chester Crown Court on 6 November having pleaded guilty to stalking involving serious alarm/distress.
He had been removed as a patient from his practice list after his behaviour became ‘aggressive and alarming’ towards the GP, according to Cheshire police.
Following his removal, he began messaging the GP asking for his records to be transferred to his new practice, creating new accounts to do so when she blocked him. He also made ‘inappropriate comments’ on her business Facebook page.
On 26 March 2025, he appeared at the GP’s home address in Knutsford, Cheshire, telling her he ‘wanted a word’, at which point the GP contacted police and Mr Taylor was arrested.
Officers searching his home found a ‘catalogue of disturbing evidence’ on his digital devices that he had visited her home multiple times and recorded it, and images of the victim and her children on Taylor’s phone.
His internet search history also showed Taylor researching her child’s primary school.
Police also found from CCTV and ANPR records that he had followed her several times from the GP practice to her house.
DI Jude Edwards of Cheshire Constabulary said the nine-year term is ‘one of the longest sentences in the country for stalking’.
PC Morgan Eyre, investigating, described him as a ‘highly obsessive and volatile stalker who has caused irreparable harm to the victim and her family’.
PC Eyre said he had gone to ‘extreme’ lengths’ to target her including ‘loitering outside her work, following her home, and even researching where her children went to school’.
‘The victim in this case was simply doing their job, providing care to members of the community with kindness and compassion. Her bravery throughout the investigation and court proceedings is truly commendable’, he said.
‘I am pleased the Judge has recognised the seriousness and impact of Taylor’s actions which has been reflected by the sentence handed to him today. The Judge noted that Taylor’s excuse of simply wanting his medical records transferred was not a plausible account and he would have known this was not the way to have gone about it.’
As well as the custodial sentence, Mr Taylor was handed an indefinite restraining order not to contact the victim and her family, and granted a ‘dangerousness assessment’ as a high-risk individual.
Pulse has reported extensively on incidents of GP abuse and vandalism of GP practices.
Last month, staff at a GP practice which received anonymous death and rape threats said they were ‘fearful of walking to and from work’.
In September, a man was jailed after bombarding a GP practice with calls threatening to cause enough damage to close the building ‘for weeks’.
And in July, a man who attacked two GP registrars with a baseball bat in a ‘violent attack’ was given an 18-month community order.
Previously, the medical defence organisation MDDUS found over 80% of GPs experienced verbal abuse from patients in 2024, while a quarter were subjected to physical violence.
And last year, delegates at the UK LMC conference voted through a motion calling for ‘more severe sanctions’ for perpetrators of threatening and violent behaviour towards practice staff.
