Former BBC Presenter Gaslighted Ex-Lover in Six Month Campaign of Harassment

A former BBC presenter gaslighted his ex-lover during a six month campaign of harassment.

Ebunolu Akintade, otherwise known as Ebs Akintade, 38, of Croydon, was convicted of stalking and harassment following his recent trial at Hendon Magistrates' Court.

Harassment is an offence contrary to section 2 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. It has a maximum penalty of 26 weeks' custody and/or an unlimited fine on summary conviction. Stalking is an offence under section 2A of the same Act. It has a maximum penalty of 26 weeks' custody and/or an unlimited fine.

Magistrates heard that the former BBC London and Radio Jackie presenter had been in a relationship with estate agent Tom Chandler. The couple split in August 2019, but Akintade remained obsessed with Mr Chandler and accepted a police caution for harassment last September. After a temporary lull, Akintade resumed his campaign of harassment between November 2019 and April 2020.

Akintade - who currently works as a mental health co-ordinator, but has no formal medical training - told Mr Chandler he must be suffering from mental health issues. He tried to undermine Mr Chandler's grip on reality - a technique known as gaslighting - which left his victim feeling trapped.

The pair had a chance encounter in a Soho bar in February 2020, which resulted in Akintade sending Mr Chandler a bottle of the anxiety remedy Ashwagandha at the beginning of March. The package included a note saying: "See you at the end of your course in 60 days, your mental health matters."

A few weeks later Akintade copied Mr Chandler into a 'ranting' email to the police arranging an appointment to give his fingerprints. The very next day the spurned lover emailed Mr Chandler telling him that he had booked and paid for six therapy sessions for him.

Mr Chandler told the court: "I feel like he was using my mental heath, telling me I had mental health problems to control me.

"He insisted on coming to the doctors with me, I couldn't say no. He suggested I go and see a counsellor, I felt I had no choice.

"It was just wearing me down, I didn't know what was happening."

In his evidence Mr Chandler recounted several other occasions where Akinade had harassed him by sending rambling love letters, visiting and loitering outside his place of work and bombarding his mobile phone with missed calls and text messages.

Prosecutor Neehal Patel told that court that there was nothing wrong with Mr Chandler's mental health and Akinade was unqualified to form such an opinion.

"He had counselling, nothing was wrong, he was quite forthcoming. There were no suicidal thoughts," the prosecutor said.

"The reason he contacted the police was the unwanted contact, he got too much for him, he felt gaslighted and trapped in the relationship. His contact was unwanted and was upsetting."

Magistrates convicted Akintade of both offences and ordered the preparation of a pre-sentence report.

He was released on conditional bail until his sentencing at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday, 7th August 2020.

Having consulted the relevant guidelines it would appear, based on the information available, that a custodial sentence is a distinct possibility.

Update (18/10/23): This article and the Daily Mail article it references have been de-indexed by the major search engines following privacy takedown requests. It is highly likely Akintade, or someone acting on his behalf, made those requests in an effort to conceal publicity surrounding his criminal convictions.

Update (14/11/23): Akintade has been convicted of yet another offence of stalking, against yet another of his ex-boyfriends. The circumstances of the most recent case are very similar to those described above.