England - accused of theft of low value item - charged

I've been charged with the theft of an item worth £8.50.

long story short - an individual has been stalking and harassing a female member of my family for nearly a year - near the beginning of the stalking after he made threats I went to his property and left a note on his window asking him to stop or police would be involved - he rang me while I was at the site and made various threats of violence and harm of which he admits.

as I left the property I picked up a padlock off a gatepost and threw it on the floor in frustration.

all this is on cctv although conveniently the 3 seconds showing the padlock landing are "missing"

the individual who owns the lock is currently on police bail and has been charged with multiple counts of harassment, stalking. dangerous driving, making threats etc by a separate police force and this will go to trial in the next 12-18 months.

his bail conditions include not going near my family and all the usual restrictions (which he breaches almost daily).

he has accused me of stealing this lock and the police force next door has charged me and said it's theft and I'm to attend magistrates for a summary justice trial.

I obviously didn't steal the lock or deny him of it and the wider circumstances of the situation make me wonder what on earth is going on?

the police told me the bloke is pushing and demanding I be charged so they "have to" as he has evidence that satisfys them.

the bloke also makes claims almost weekly he has family in the police etc and can do what he wants.

he has a long history of aggressive predatory harassment towards women he doesn't like - the police are keen to prosecute as they have said multiple women in the past have not followed through as he escalated his behavior when charged (they revealed this after he escalated his behavior while on police bail). (they have let slip theirs a risk of him making a return to his country of origin before trial).

did I actually commit theft? and is his behavior relevant ?

I'm assuming it's part of his harassment and also maybe a hope that pressure on the family helps his case - ie look how awful they were to me when I started abusing them.