A jealous and controlling former Team GB athlete threatened to bury his ex-girlfriend’s children before she broke up with him, a court has heard.
Judo expert Frazer Chamberlain, 33, appeared in the dock on Monday charged with coercion, stalking and theft offences.
Prosecutor John Carmichael told the jury Chamberlain worked from time-to-time as a judo teacher at a primary school in the local area and had offered the son of the victim free judo lessons.
He said Chamberlain and Katie Snow began a relationship in August 2021. Chamberlain then moved in with Ms Snow, who lived in Wokingham, Berkshire.
Mr Carmichael told the jury at Reading Crown Court: ‘We are looking at two-and-a-half years or so of a developing relationship.
‘The prosecution case is that after a while it became characterised by real jealously and possessiveness on his part and through a number of methods.
‘To control and direct her existence, to channel her behaviour, to restrict her behaviour and to constantly monitor her behaviour.
‘When she brought the relationship to an end, he continued to badger her on just about any form of media that was available.
Judo expert Frazer Chamberlain, 33, appeared in the dock on Monday charged with coercion, stalking and theft offences
‘She will say after they broke up he stole a PlayStation console belonging to her child.
‘He was very jealous of her interaction with other men in circumstances of socialising when other men were there.
‘He would repeatedly restrict her association with other men.’
The court heard how ‘jealous’ Chamberlain would go through Ms Snow’s social media, tell her not to wear skirts or dresses, and installed cameras to monitor her.
Mr Carmichael said Chamberlain also required his then-girlfriend not to act on any business requests from men in relation to her successful cleaning business, the jury heard.
The prosecutor said the ‘jealous’ man would require her PIN number, repeatedly taking her phone on a daily basis and checking all the messages she had engaged in – deleting her contact with any men.
The jury heard Chamberlain would stand over Ms Snow going through her social media and requiring her to remove all her contacts with men.
Mr Carmichael added: ‘He installed a door camera to the address they shared. That was through his account and he was able to monitor it.
Chamberlain also took control of the alleged victim’s bank card and would check her transactions to find out where she was, the jury heard
‘She would regularly find, having left the address, that she would receive an inquiry from him over the phone.
‘This monitoring through a camera went further. He also got two Alexa devices that could monitor what would be said in a place and had cameras attached.’
These were placed in the bedroom and kitchen, the jury heard. Ms Snow would regularly find the judo expert interrogating the Alexa device to find out if she had men in the bedroom.
Mr Carmichael added: ‘Even when he was abroad she was aware the Alexa cameras were being used to monitor her behaviour in the house.’
Chamberlain also took control of the alleged victim’s bank card and would check her transactions to find out where she was, the jury heard.
On one occasion, Ms Snow received communication from Chamberlain saying: ‘If you love me, you will tell me where you are.’
Chamberlain also used the victim’s children ‘perhaps as a conduit to find out what was going on with their mother,’ the prosecutor added.
The defendant, from London Road, Wokingham, Berkshire, told Ms Snow if she did anything like leave him or cheat on him, he would ‘bury her, bury her kids, stab the social worker, stab her mother’.
He would also put his arm around Ms Snow’s neck and squeeze very hard – sometimes to the point where she couldn’t breathe, the jury heard.
Mr Carmichael said: ‘He would make out it was all a joke and he wasn’t doing it seriously.
‘When she finally left him she received a string of attempts to communicate with her – blocking every way she could. When she returned to the property she found a PlayStation belonging to her child had been taken by him.’
The judo star sat in the dock charged with two counts of controlling and coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship between August 28, 2021, and January 13 last year; stalking involving serious alarm or distress between January 13 and February 9 last year and theft of a PlayStation Five console between January 12 and January 22 last year. He is represented in court by defence counsel Oliver Kavanagh.
The trial continues.
