Jail for Sutton sex offender who stalked neighbour after first harassing her in 2009

Nottingham Crown Court heard John Housley had a 'significant history of harassing behaviour and unwanted attention' towards the woman and was first convicted of harassing her in 2009.

Aaron Dinnes, prosecuting, said that between April 4 and 26 this year, Housley loitered outside her house on Fackley Drive and watched her, causing her to feel uneasy, and on one occasion followed her to a supermarket.

Housley, aged 65, watched her from behind the shelves and made her so fearful she sought assistance from staff, who hid her in a backroom until police arrived.

In a statement, she said: “He is always watching me. There appears to be no deterring him. He knows what is right and wrong. I have only been able to relax when he's been in prison.”

She said she had almost had accidents in her rush to drive away from her house as Housley monitored her from the drive next door and pretended to tinker with his car.

The court heard Housley has four previous convictions for nine offences, including the harassment of a different woman, in 2002, and possession of indecent images, in 2019.

Housley admitted stalking involving serious alarm and distress when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court, in May and has been in custody ever since.

Denney Lau, mitigating, said Housley was ‘a man of a very lonely nature’ whose elderly father is his only contact.

He said: “He wants to be friendly and socialise with others but simply doesn't know how.

“He now understands he needs to improve the way he socialises and if people don't reciprocate his friendliness, he must simply withdraw.”

Sentencing, Judge John Sampson said it was 'highly distressing' behaviour, over a 'sustained period', which was aggravated by his record.

He told Housley, who also faces another charge of stalking before the magistrates’ courts, ‘these inadequacies are entrenched in you’.

He said: “What is clear is that this behaviour must stop. Only a custodial sentence is appropriate.”

Housley was jailed for year and given a restraining order, which bans him from contacting his victim, and two other women, or coming within 100 metres of Fackley Road.