LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gareth Pursehouse, 45, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of the murder of his former girlfriend, famed sex therapist Amie Harwick, 38. Pursehouse was found guilty in September of first-degree murder for the killing of Harwick at her Los Angeles home in February 2020.

Prosecutors stated that Pursehouse had become “obsessed” with Harwick following their breakup over a decade ago and had planned to kill her. The evidence presented during the trial showed that Pursehouse broke into Harwick’s home, waited for her, and then strangled and punched her as she attempted to fight him off. He then threw her over a balcony.

Police had arrived at Harwick’s home after receiving a 911 call reporting a woman screaming. Harwick was found unconscious but alive when police arrived but died shortly after arriving at the hospital. An autopsy found that Harwick died from “blunt-force injuries of the head and torso”, with evidence of “manual strangulation”.

Pursehouse and Harwick had a previous relationship which led her to file a restraining order against him in 2012. Additionally, Harwick had taken out an additional protective order against Pursehouse, which expired in 2015. A month before her murder, Harwick reportedly had an encounter with Pursehouse at a work event, during which she rebuffed his attempts to stay in touch with her and she expressed being scared of Pursehouse in text messages sent to friends and in an email to herself.

Friends of Harwick described her as a vocal advocate for women, speaking out against the statistics of women being injured and killed by boyfriends. Her previous fiancé, comedian Drew Carey, referred to her as a “champion” for women and a positive force in the world at the time of her death.

In conclusion, Gareth Pursehouse has been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the killing of therapist Amie Harwick at her home in Los Angeles. Pursehouse was described as “obsessed” by prosecutors and had a previous history of restraining orders by Harwick. Her friends and fiancé remembered her as a vocal advocate for women and a positive force in the world.