A Burnaby man convicted of criminal harassment after orchestrating an online campaign to harass his ex-wife with a “revenge website” has failed in an attempt to appeal his guilty verdict and sentence.
In a ruling posted Tuesday, the B.C. Court of Appeal found that Patrick Fox had failed to gather and submit the necessary documents to proceed with an appeal.
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Fox was arrested again in April and charged with breach of probation. That charge has yet to be heard in court.
In June 2017, Fox was convicted of criminal harassment and a firearms charge in a trial where he largely represented himself. He was sentenced to three years in prison, minus time served, followed by three years of probation.
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During the trial, court heard that Fox had operated a salacious and defamatory website targeting his ex, U.S. resident Desiree Capuano, and had sent threatening emails, including one pledging to commit the rest of his life to destroying hers.
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In November 2017, Fox launched an appeal of the conviction, alleging that the legal counsel he had been provided had intentionally given him bad legal help in a co-ordinated effort with Crown counsel to cover up perjury on his ex-wife’s part.
But the appellate court’s three-judge panel said in a series of pre-appeal hearings following his conviction that Fox was repeatedly warned he would need to provide court transcripts and other paperwork or risk having his case thrown out. Fox argued he couldn’t afford to gather the materials.
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The panel said that Fox confirmed last week that he would be unable to produce the necessary paperwork to proceed.
In dismissing Fox’s appeal, the court also issued several new orders blocking him from publishing or sharing any information related to the case and barring the publication of details relating to his alleged breaches of probation.
Fox is due back in court in August to face the probation charges.
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