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Son Banned From Contacting Parents For Five Years After Constantly Pestering Them For Cash

Son Banned From Contacting Parents For Five Years After Constantly Pestering Them For Cash

Matthew Kerley has been prohibited from contacting his family until 2022 due to a restraining order after he caused them severe anxiety

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

We're generally told from an early age that the older we get, the more help we need to provide around the house - then some people will start contributing financially when the time comes.

It's preparing us for the 'real world'. Sounds boring to you? Well, get used to it. Wow, I'm morphing into my mum by the minute.

For some, these life lessons take a little longer. Take Matthew Kerley, for example. He was banned from contacting his parents for five years after they got fed up with him constantly pestering them for money.

According to the Mirror, the 24-year-old was given a restraining order after he was convicted of harassment.

But he failed to stick to the conditions of the order when he called his parents around 30 times in one day. He's now been handed a 12-month community order for breaching the conditions.

Last year Kerley's father, Paul, 60, had supported a restraining order suggested by the Crown Prosecution Service after his persistent 'pestering' had caused him and his wife Coreen, 51, an extreme amount of anxiety and stress.

It came after Kerley, from Eastleigh, Hants, was sentenced to 32 weeks behind bars for harassment.

But despite the restraining order, a court heard that Kerley had made 30 phone calls to his parents in a single day, breaching the requirements of the court order.

Matthew Kerley.
Facebook/Matt Kerley

Southampton Magistrates' Court was told how the defendant would still ask for money, only to lie about the reason.

Prosecutor Liam Hunt said: "He told his parents he had a job interview and needed to shave, but his shaver had broken halfway through.

"He asked his parents for money, which they gave him, but he then turned up with a full beard.

"His pestering of his parents for money led to the harassment conviction last year, but this behaviour seems to have started up again.

"In one day last month, his parents received 30 calls. These have also been in the middle of the night.

"A number of messages have also been received criticising them, before asking yet again for money."

Facebook/Matt Kerley

Representing Kerley, Julie Macey, said that the defendant acknowledged his actions had to stop, and that time spent in HMP Bullingdon, Oxon, had done him 'the world of good'.

She said: "He is looking a lot healthier now than when I saw him three weeks ago.

"While he was not supposed to contact his parents, it was their bank account that his benefits were being sent to. Now, I believed that is fixed.

"He has a friend to go and stay with now, so things are looking up.

"He acknowledges he caused his parents a lot of stress and anxiety, and that it had to stop. Prison seems to have done him the world of good."

Chairing a bench of magistrates, Steven Anderton, sentenced Kerley to a 12-month community order for breaching the restraining order.

Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Matt Kerley

Topics: UK News, Money, Parents, Community