Eastwood man stalked terrified woman who worked in the shop below his flat

Mathew Alcock left his victim ‘completely terrified’, suffering sleepless nights and waking ‘with a feeling of dread about going into work’ after he began bombarding her with text messages, in February last year.

She would lock herself in the shop to make herself feel safe and was looking into getting a panic button fitted, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

She had shown Alcock, aged 39, ‘neighbourly kindness and friendship’, but Alcock, who was ‘isolated and becoming increasingly unwell, developed an unhappy infatuation’.

Abigail Hill, prosecuting, said his victim received a call from the domestic abuse hotline, on March 21, after Alcock made false reports she had been the victim of domestic abuse.

Alcock, of Dovecote Road, Eastwood, was arrested two days later and told police he heard voices and was in love with the woman.

He admitted stalking without violence.

The court heard Alcock, who has no previous convictions, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

While he was in prison his condition deteriorated to the point where he is now no longer fit to plead and he was transferred to a hospital in Lincoln.

Digby Johnson, mitigating, said: “He was isolated, lonely, and becoming more and more introverted and fixated. And sadly she was the subject of that fixation.

“He is still unwell. It is still not possible to talk to him about the circumstances of the case. He has lost his tenancy in the flat above the shop.

“He has lived habitually in Eastwood. It may well be he goes back to that area. Perhaps if she hears of how unwell he has been it might bring her some solace.”

Judge Gregory Dickinson QC, the Recorder of Nottingham, said the effect on Alcock’s victim ‘has been profound and long term’, but added ‘mental illness, rather than cold, calculating aggression’, was the cause.

He imposed a hospital order, without a set time limit, following the advice of two psychiatrists.

A 10-year restraining order was also imposed.