A CHAMPION bowls player followed his former wife and new partner to a supermarket car park and threatened to kill them.

Stuart Irwin, 41, an England and county bowls player, and his brother Mark Irwin, 38, a county bowls player, confronted the victims in Lidl car park after blocking their vehicle in.

Stuart Irwin had denied stalking and using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear of or provoke unlawful violence. Mark Irwin denied using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

However, the defendants were convicted following a two-day trial and were sentenced for the offences at Workington Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

Outlining the case, prosecutor Pamela Fee said the incident was in relation to the breakdown of the marriage of Stuart Irwin and his wife. The relationship had ended in January 2023.

Irwin, who had moved out of the family home, had gone to the victim’s address and watched her outside the window. He saw she was on FaceTime.

He then went into the house and ‘bombarded’ her with questions about who she was seeing. He later bombarded her with messages, trying to get her to admit to having an affair.

He was ‘fixated’ with finding out who she was seeing, the court was told.

Irwin also sent messages to a male victim, telling him if he found out he had been with his wife, he would be ‘eating through a tube’.

The victim has a beauty room at her home, which she works from, and on January 26, Irwin had asked her to tell him the male’s name or he would drive through the beauty room window.

She had to cancel all the appointments that day. 

On February 12, the female victim had been at a gig in Carlisle and had then gone to see the male victim. She had left his address and gone back to her property. She believed she had been followed back to Aspatria.

She received a voicemail from the defendant which said he had seen her get back in and he had followed her back from Caldbeck. She spoke to the defendant on the phone and he made threats towards her.

Ms Fee said the matter came to a head on April 14 when the victims drove past Irwin who was with his brother in a work van in Wigton. The brothers had followed them into Lidl car park and blocked the vehicle in.

Stuart Irwin had then punched the driver’s side window and said ‘I’m going to kill you’.

During police interview, Stuart Irwin said he was attempting to save their marriage and wanted answers to why they had split up. He said he didn’t think the messages he had sent constituted harassment.

When asked about the incident in Lidl, Irwin denied threats to kill them. However, Ms Fee said these could be heard on the 999 call.

Mark Irwin told police that they had pulled up next to the victims and Stuart had ‘tapped on the window’ then asked, ‘Why are you doing this? She’s a married woman’.

He said the victim had then got out of the car and told his brother she didn’t want to be with him anymore. He admitted calling her a ‘horrible, cheating, b******’ but denied saying ‘watch your back’.

A statement read to the court from the male victim, who is a primary school teacher, said the actions of the Irwins had had a ‘huge impact’ on him.

He said he had received an aggressive call while teaching children and had to contact the police, which had caused him embarrassment.

He said he thought they were going to kill him after being followed into Lidl car park.

A statement from the female victim said she had been in a ‘toxic’ relationship since the age of 20 and had been ‘gaslighted’ and ‘manipulated’.

She said she had PTSD from the ‘aggressive and violent actions’ of her former husband and had flashbacks from the incident in Lidl car park.

Mark Irwin, who was not legally represented, said: “I don’t think I used threatening words.”

He also raised a number of concerns over the conditions of a restraining order.

Stuart Irwin, who was also unrepresented, said: “The events the prosecutor explained are so wrong. I was married to this girl for 12 years. Had two lovely kids.

“I left home to go to the bowls. We never split up. She never said it was over.

“I went down to the house with flowers one night. I found her on the phone to someone else.

“It’s me that’s the victim. I gave her everything for 12 years. To go through all this – it breaks my heart. All I wanted was the truth.

“She knows they are empty threats. She knows I wouldn’t do anything.”

Mark Irwin was given a community order with 40 hours of unpaid work. He was given a six-month restraining order which bans him from contacting the two victims and going to three addresses.

The defendant, of St Mungo’s Park, Aspatria, was ordered to pay £620 costs and a £114 victim surcharge.

Stuart Irwin was given a two-year community order with 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days and must complete the building better relationships programme. He must complete 180 hours of unpaid work.

He was given a two-year restraining order which bans him from contacting the two victims and going to three addresses.

The defendant, of East View, Prospect, was ordered to pay £930 costs and a £114 victim surcharge.