Met Police officer ‘tormented’ ex-girlfriend with persistent contact, court told
Pc Ben Bunsell, 40, attached to the Central South Command Unit, denies one count of stalking without fear, alarm or distress.
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A Metropolitan Police officer allegedly “tormented” his ex-girlfriend by persistently contacting her in the month after they split up, a court has heard.
Pc Ben Bunsell, attached to the Central South Command Unit, denies one count of stalking without fear, alarm or distress between June 23 and July 28 2023 while off-duty.
The 40-year-old sent more than 770 messages to Natalie Jundo after the pair split up in June and allegedly showed up at her home address in the early hours of the morning at the end of the month, prosecutor Jason Seetal told City of London Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
The court was also told that Bunsell made a series of phone calls to Ms Jundo using a withheld number after she blocked him and sent emails to her using an unknown address.
It was really stressful, but when he started, what I thought was him coming around the house, then it started to get frightening
Ms Jundo, giving evidence behind a screen to block her from Bunsell’s view, said: “It was really interfering with everything … because either the phone constantly calling or messages and emails to the point where I couldn’t use my phone.”
“It just really tormented me,” she added.
Ms Jundo also told the court: “It was really stressful, but when he started, what I thought was him coming around the house, then it started to get frightening.
“It was not just frustrating or stressful, it started getting scary.”
All of that the crown say establishing a pattern of stalking
Bunsell and Ms Jundo met in December 2021 on a dating website on Facebook and broke up after entering into a relationship, before getting back together in February this year.
They split up again on June 22.
After their relationship ended, Ms Jundo messaged Bunsell on one occasion telling him she changed the locks for her house when she had not, which, she told the court, she did because she was “scared that he might try and come back in”.
She responded to some of the defendant’s messages, telling him to stop contacting her, before going on to block him on various messaging platforms, the court heard.
I believed…that she just needed a bit of space
Bunsell continued to make contact through email and calls using unknown or withheld numbers, the prosecutor said.
Ms Jundo’s Ring doorbell recorded someone walking twice past her front gate at around 2am on June 30, which she believed was the defendant, the court heard.
She said Bunsell told her after they split up the first time that he had showed up at her home address when they were separated.
Ms Jundo contacted the police on July 3 and the defendant was arrested the next day, but was not charged and was bailed with a condition not to contact her.
On July 25, Ms Jundo received an email from an unknown address, using the name “Greg”, wishing her a happy birthday.
Following an exchange of responses, a phone number was given and, when Ms Jundo rang it, the defendant picked up, the prosecution said.
“All of that, the crown say, establishing a pattern of stalking,” Mr Seetal said.
Felix Keating, defending, told the court Bunsell accepts sending some of the messages but denies others and that what he accepts sending does not amount to stalking.
Cross-examining Ms Jundo, Mr Keating said on behalf of his client that she cannot be sure the person seen on the Ring doorbell footage is the defendant and that Bunsell never told her he had come to her house during a previous period of separation.
Giving evidence, Bunsell told the court he did not believe the messages he was sending to Ms Jundo after they split amounted to harassment.
Asked why, he said: “Because of the pattern of the behaviour with Natalie prior to this. Within 24 hours, 48 hours, we would be back talking.
“I believed … that she just needed a bit of space.”
He told the court he was “hurting” and “just wanted to say my piece” and also said he sent messages to simply try to get his belongings back from her home.
Bunsell denied being the person recorded on the Ring doorbell footage, insisting he did not go to her address.
He accepted that he attempted to call Ms Jundo about 20 times in the space of one day in June and also accepted he made calls from a withheld number.
But he said he did not know who sent emails under the name of “Greg” in July wishing Ms Jundo a happy birthday and then giving her his number to call, denied that it was him, but accepted that the emails came from the IP address of the wifi at his mother’s address where he was living.
“A lot of people have my number,” he told the court.
“I have no idea (who sent it) but I know it wasn’t me who sent the email.”
He denied that he was obsessed with Ms Jundo, that he refused to let the relationship end and that he ever stalked her.
Bunsell, of Greenwich, has been suspended from duty and the Met Police said its Directorate of Professional Standards is aware.