Days after being paroled, man behind revenge website jailed again (2024)

A man who has threatened and tormented his ex-wife online for decades despite convictions, jail time and a restraining order has been re-arrested for breach of conditions, even after a judge granted him “limited” legal support for one of his latest appeals.

Patrick Henry Fox was recently released from jail after serving 46 months for criminal harassment.

Days later, he was re-arrested and charged with a breach of probation. Despite court orders to have the offending website removed, new allegations about Fox’s ex-wife were posted again on the site in April.

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“Victims of internet harassment face significant barriers to obtaining a remedy,” said David Georgetti, a lawyer for Fox’s ex-wife.

“Perpetrators often hide behind the veil of anonymity. Even when hosting services co-operate, which is rare, new accounts simply spring up under pseudonyms — sometimes hours later.”

Georgetti suggested legislative reform is required to address what he called “the plague of internet harassment.”

Criminal and civil remedies “are basically non-existent,” he said, “except for the monumental task of trying to sue someone for defamation.”

For years, Fox has thumbed his nose at the legal system and scoffed at Attorney General David Eby’s authority, vowing: “They can lock me up for the rest of my life, but I will never take down the website.”

He has been harassing his ex-wife, who lives in Arizona, for two decades.

“This case is the most extreme I have ever seen,” said Georgetti. “Despite a civil injunction and probation orders, the revenge site remains online. New content, added after the orders were granted, contains taunts to the effect that the website will never come down, the justice system is powerless to stop it, and the ridiculous proposition that Mr. Fox is the real victim.”

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The couple met in January 2000, married and had a son, but the marriage broke down the following year.

He ended up sending his ex-wife hundreds of emails and posted a stream of material to humiliate her, undermine her family and work relationships, and ruin her financially.

In June 2017, Fox, who represented himself, was found guilty of criminal harassment.

The judge said Fox “delighted publicly in the harm he was causing,” and sentenced him to 46 months in jail, three years probation, and ordered the website removed.

Fox served his time, but the website remained online, resulting in Fox’s re-arrest shortly after his release.

— With a file from Ian Mulgrew

ngriffiths@postmedia.com

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