South Shields stalker subjected a woman to a three-year ordeal after he was freed from prison

Shuaib Muhammad was locked up for 30 months in 2017 after he secretly got a copy of a customer's key while working as a plumber then left sex toys in her home, stole her underwear and masturbated on her clothes.

After his release, he set his sights on another victim, who he continued to find, pester and frighten even after she sold her home and moved to get away from him.

Newcastle Crown Court heard over a three-year period, Muhammad hung around and stared into her home, made silent phone calls and removed latches from window locks.

When the victim, who had no idea who he was, got a security system, he spray painted her windows and camera lenses or covered them in plastic bags to obscure the view of what he was doing around her property.

Prosecutor Jolyon Perks told the court: "The prosecution submit this could not be more extreme.

"This conduct persisted over a prolonged period. It involved a high degree of planning, it involved the defendant tracking her from location to location.

"We submit the conduct was intended to maximise fear or distress."

Muhammad, 31, of Marshall Wallis Road, South Shields, admitted stalking involving fear of violence and has today been jailed for five years.

Mr Recorder Brian Whitehead issued Muhammad with a lifelong restraining order and said the facts of the case "read something like a Hollywood film".

Recorder Whitehead added: "I have never seen a case, falling short of violence, where this sort of distress and harm is caused, forcing someone essentially to move out of her house, forcing her to sell and then continuing."

In an impact statement, which was read in court, the terrified victim said she would check cupboards and wardrobes with an expectation that a stranger would be inside and repeatedly made sure that her doors and windows were locked.

She said she ended up a prisoner in her home and added: "Those on curfew tags have more freedom."

The woman added: "White paint was sprayed all over the kitchen window, to cover the camera behind it.

"I never stayed there again. My mam had to pack away the Christmas tree that year. I couldn't face spending time there."

She described her ordeal as a "nightmare" which has completely changed her life and made her paranoid and added: "The psychological toll is beyond imagination.

"Nobody knows where or how this ends.

"I can't work out the pattern or the motive and I fear I never will."

The woman said she had attempted to understand the stalker's behaviour but "fear takes over" and the worry it could start up again "never goes away".

She added: "I don't know why it ever started."

The court heard the woman's nightmare began when she got a note through her door saying someone had a parcel for her and she should ring an enclosed mobile number to collect it, which she ignored.

She then noticed that the window facing into her rear enclosed yard had two of the four latches removed.

On one occasion, he let her dog out and the pet disturbed a male, who ran off.

A few months later, another two latches were removed from her window.

Mr Perks said: "This was causing her by now to panic, she lived on her own, she was on her own and it was dark. She replaced them."

The next month, the victim was in bed, in her ground floor bedroom with the window slightly open.

Mr Perks said: "Her dog was in the bedroom and at about 5.30am the dog started to bark. She then saw a male, this defendant, stood outside her window. He was reaching in through the partially open window."

Three weeks later a neighbour told the woman he had noticed a "peeping Tom" looking through her window at night.

Later that year, the woman let her dog out and saw a male in her yard, standing next to her bedroom window.

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The court heard due to what was happening, the victim moved in with her mum while she had security cameras installed at her flat.

But on Boxing Day of that year, she received a notification from her security camera so a family member went to check the flat.

Mr Perks said: "He found the window which gave the camera access to the rear yard had been painted white. Someone had realised the camera was there and they deliberately painted the glass to obscure the camera.

"This was too much for her. She took a month off work due to stress."

The court heard the woman to leave her home and her flat was sold in the following January.

That same month her car was parked at a relative's home and a note appeared on the windscreen from someone apologising for scratching it and asking her to call a mobile number, which she did not.

The court heard the woman moved into her new home, a mile away from her old flat.

In October of that year, the victim's doorbell camera was activated and showed a male spray painting the lens and her CCTV at the back of the property with black paint, which cost her £500 to replace.

A month later her cameras showed a man approach her door then crouch down and look into her spare bedroom window for around two minutes before someone put a light on and he ran off.

The court heard the woman had a year of peace from the November, but in the following November, she received a notification on her phone from her video doorbell which showed a male in dark clothing walking down the steps towards her home towards her front door.

She called 999 as she watched the stranger tamper with her security light then run off.

About a minute later he returned and stared in through her window for around two minutes.

Later that same evening she received several calls to her mobile phone, from a withheld number and could hear just breathing.

And at around 11pm that same night her CCTV showed a male outside her home, wearing blue surgical gloves and carrying a torch.

He approached her front door and put a black bin liner over her security camera before leaving.

Muhammad was linked to the offences after his offender manager recognised him from footage obtained by the police.

Brian Hegarty, defending, said Muhammad accepts his behaviour had a devastating impact and added: "He is willing to engage with professional help. He knows he needs professional help."