EXCLUSIVE: Housewife convicted of harassment after bombarding her husband with phone calls while he watched football at friends’ house has now split from him – while they still share the same house

• Joanne and Steve Healey still live in the same house following her court case
• Friends say the former couple no longer share any interests or socialise together 

A housewife convicted of harassment after nagging her hubby for enjoying a beer while watching a football match with friends now lead separate lives, the MailOnline can reveal.

Joanne and Steve Healey still live in the same house, but their marriage is over, friends said today.

The couple no longer share any interests nor socialise together.

A friend said: ‘Steve has found it all deeply embarrassing. The whole family has had tough.

‘It was something that got slightly out of control and he feels it shouldn’t have gone to court.

‘Everyone is shocked that it went to court.

‘Joanne and Steve no longer have any involvement in each other’s lives. The incident happened because of Joanne’s drinking.

‘They now do their own thing and live separate lives.

‘They may live in the same house but that is it.’

Joanne Healey, pictured, bombarded her husband Steve with phone calls while he was watching football with friends at their home

Mrs Healey, pictured on a ferry with her husband Steve, was convicted of harassment

Joanne, 59, bombarded Steve with phone calls while he watched Chelsea v Manchester United game at a friend’s John and Debbie Ashworth’s house.

Steve, 60, refused to answer his wife’s calls so she phoned the Ashworth’s landline – branding them ‘paedophiles.’

Steve, who has been married to Joanne for 37 years, later returned home and the police arrived to quiz his wife over the nuisance phone calls.

Healey, who had been drinking at the time of the incident last October, pleaded guilty to harassment at Wirral Magistrates’ Court, and was sentenced to a 12-month community order and fined £80.

She must attend 20 days of rehabilitative activity with the probation service and pay £234 in costs and victim surcharge. A request for a restraining order made on behalf of Mrs Ashworth was rejected.

Healey must attend 20 days of rehabilitative activity with the probation service and pay £234 in costs and victim surcharge but she was not handed a restraining order 

In the days leading up to the football match, Healey was said to been abusive to Mrs Ashworth over text messages, social media and calls. She was blocked but then Mrs Ashworth began to receive numerous unwanted phone calls to her landline. On one occasion she was said to have phoned the house phone 59 times in the space of two hours.

In a statement Mrs Ashworth told police: ‘Mrs Healey was unhappy at being told that she was no longer welcome at the club. I told her to stop calling me, but she ignored that and continued with her persistent behaviour.

‘Specifically, on October 22 last year, Mrs Healey was ringing constantly. I was at home with my husband John, my son and also her husband, Steve Healey. We were all watching a football match on the TV.

‘Mr Healey had his mobile phone with him but it kept ringing. She was asking him where he was and when he would be home and demanded that he bring the dog back. Steve said that he would be home soon and will bring the dog back soon but he stopped answering his phone and she started ringing my landline instead.

READ MORE: Nagging housewife convicted of harassing husband who was watching football with friends 

Joanne Healey, 59, pleaded guilty to harassment and was sentenced to a 12-month community order and fined £80

‘My son answered the phone to Healey and he told her to stop ringing me. I then told her multiple times to leave me alone and not to contact me again, but her reaction was drunken abuse, shouting and swearing at me, calling me and my husband ‘paedophiles’ and calling me a ‘slag’. She even accused me of having an affair with her husband Steve, which is a lot of rubbish.

‘I tried not to get into an argument with her so I kept hanging up but she would ring me back.

‘During the calls, she was going on at me to tell Steve to answer his phone. I was trying to tell her that he was watching the football.

‘She was even demanding that he bring the dog back to the house. She was drunk when she was ringing me, as she is usually when she behaves like this.

‘Every time she rang, I just put the phone down as I did not want to argue. But she would just ring back.

‘In the end, we just left the receiver off the hook and put the volume up on the TV so we could not hear her shouting down the phone.

‘In the end, however, I had to put the phone back on because I look after my mum so I need to be able to answer the phone in case there is an emergency.

‘Once the game was finished, Steve went straight home, but she was still ringing my landline telling me that Steve went home and battered her, which is a load of rubbish.’

Mrs Ashworth later contacted police and Healey, of Rock Ferry, Merseyside, was interviewed by police.

Lionel Cope, prosecuting, said: ‘She said the reason that she was ringing was that her husband had the dog. He had been out since 4pm on October 22 till the early hours of [the] 23rd.

‘She said she didn’t want her husband but the dog. She said that when she rang they just kept putting the phone down on her which annoyed her. She explained that she had been drinking more lately, and more at the time of the offence.’

Healey had no previous convictions.

Rebecca Boswell, defending, said: ‘Although she likes a drink, she is not dependent on alcohol. But she accepts that maybe when she has had a drink, maybe what she has bottled up comes out.

Prior to the night of the football game, she was said to have phoned the house phone of Mrs Ashworth 59 times in the space of two hours

‘She has gone her whole life without coming before the court. I do not think this is where she envisaged herself being. She is currently undergoing further assessment in relation to arthritis, she is having X-rays on her hips and back and also blood tests.

‘This is one occasion of telephone calls. This is someone who has come to court for the first time and is never to come back.’

Sentencing JP Mary Garvey told Healey: ‘It is unfortunate that you are in court today. The calls were persistent and prolonged but we are not going to place a restraining order on you because of the passage of time, it is over eight months and there have been no further incidents.

‘But it is a warning to you and a lesson to you and we hope that we do not see you before these courts again.’

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