Mark Sullivan never thought the last time he would see the woman he fell for at a charity dinner, she would be sitting in the glass-walled dock of a magistrates' court.
His former partner, Deborah Hayes, from Mytchett in Surrey, was this month given a three year restraining order and told to stay away from Sullivan, who she had falsely suggested had sent child porn photos on social media.
Sullivan, 64, a chip shop owner from north-east Hampshire, said the allegations on social media, described by police as "harmful and false," almost destroyed his business and his life.
"That word," as he describes the paedophile slur, leaves "a stain that stays with you and it's very difficult to remove".
Hayes, 58, pleaded guilty to one count of harassment without violence at an earlier hearing at Staines Magistrates Court in December, 2025.
On Friday, she was given a 12 month community order and fined 1,000 plus costs and a 114 victim surcharge.
Her three-year restraining order includes restrictions on posting on social media.
Sullivan was never named in the posts, but people soon identified him as the target of what the police described as "vindictive" allegations.
These included claims he had numerous affairs, that he had a sexually transmitted disease, and that he had insulted his dying mother.
But worst of all was the unfounded suggestion that he had sent child porn photographs.
One person on a local community group responded: "He sounds like a disgusting man. If he's a paedo too,...
Mark Sullivan never thought the last time he would see the woman he fell for at a charity dinner, she would be sitting in the glass-walled dock of a magistrates' court. His former partner, Deborah...