'I fear for my personal safety around this man': Landlord jailed for 'campaign of terror' against former tenant

A Mayo native has been sentenced to two years imprisonment, with sixteen months suspended, following his conviction for a sustained harassment campaign against a former tenant at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Thomas Armstrong, aged forty-six, of Addison Avenue, Glasnevin, Dublin, pleaded guilty to harassment of the complainant between August 2016 and August 2018. The court heard that following a rental dispute, Armstrong engaged in a calculated course of intimidation involving multiple forms of abuse. These included making anonymous complaints to Dublin City Council regarding the complainant's parents' property, creating a fraudulent social media account in her name with photographs and false posts, and advertising tickets using her contact details. Judge Melanie Greally described the offending as an "extreme violation" of the complainant's privacy and peace of mind. Armstrong brought four thousand euros to court as a gesture of remorse, which was redirected to Pieta House after the complainant declined it. He was issued a forty-year non-contact order and a five-hundred-metre exclusion zone from the complainant's residence and workplace.