'I feel unsafe and anxious in my own house': Single mum's dream of a fresh start shattered by stalker

Karim turned up on the woman's doorstep with flowers - even when she said she didn't want them
-Credit: (Image: Pixabay)


A single mum who dreamed of a fresh start with her child was left feeling vulnerable and scared in her new home after a stranger began stalking her.

Azim Karim, 46, first saw the woman as she was leaving her home to attend a funeral in December 2022. She was carrying flowers and as she walked to her car, Karim shouted: "Are they for me?"

A few days later he tried to approach her as she walked to her car, and asked her for her name and phone number. The woman did not give him her details but Karim said he had ordered some flowers. The woman told him she did not want them but Karim said he would drop them off on his way to work.

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That evening, there was a knock on the woman's front door. When she opened it, Karim was on her doorstep carrying a bouquet. The woman told him to leave her alone, Preston Crown Court heard.

In January 2023, the woman received a Snapchat message from an unknown account, saying 'have you checked your bin?' When the woman went to investigate she found flowers and again told Karim to leave her alone, before blocking the account.

The following month she received a note through her door, saying: "Stop being so strange and weird. unblock me. I love you." The woman sent a message back, asking Karim to stop contacting her, and blocked him again.

In May 2023, she saw him riding a bike in the street near her home. He tried speaking to her but she ignored him, the court heard. Karim then tried to message her on Facebook and the woman realised he had sent a number of messages to her which had gone to her message requests folder. Again, she told him to stop contacting her, the court heard.

A few days later, the woman was tidying her front garden and received a message to her Facebook, saying; "Looks like you are having a deep clean." At 10pm that evening, Karim tried to call her on Facebook. A few minutes later, a note was pushed through her front door, saying: "You know who."

At 11pm she opened her window and smelled burning. She saw smoke and called the fire brigade. They came immediately and found her wheelie bin was on fire. When she checked CCTV which overlooked the back alley behind her home, the woman saw Karim going in and out several times.

On May 13, Karim was arrested and questioned by the police. He made no comment but admitted the Facebook account used to send the messages was his.

In a statement, the woman said: "Since the hearrassment began in December I have felt unsafe and anxious in my own home and my whole life. I was excited to have my own house for myself and my daughter. This is the first time I have lived independently.

"The confidence and faith I had that a single woman in today's society could live independently and without fear is gone."

She said she has paid out hundreds of pounds on surveillance equipment and has had to teach her daughter not to open the front door. When friends and family visit they have to phone her from outside so she can be sure of who she is opening the door to.

She took time off work and felt guilty and embarrassed at having to explain why. She no longer walks to work as she feels unsafe and when she walks to vist family nearby is always looking out for Karim's car, she said.

"I now expect the unexpected."

The woman explained she now checks her surveillance equipment frequently and feels unable to settle to sleep at night, as if she had gone to bed at her usual time she would not have noticed the fire at her house. The lack of slep is affecting her physically, mentally and at work, she added.

Karim, of Queens Road, Accrington, pleded guilty to stalking and appeared at Preston Crown Court to be sentenced.

A probation report stated Karim had "deep seated problems in his psyche around relationships" but there was work which could be done to address them. He has stuck to bail conditions to stay away from the woman since his arrest last May, the court heard.

Sentencing, Recorder Ayesha Siddiqi said: "You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself. You targeted someone who was living alone. Despite the fact that from the outset she made it plain she didn't want to engage with you, you continued to contact her.

"I make it clear. Your victim has done nothing wrong. You are the only person who should be ashamed and questioning yourself. You have caused very serious distress and your victim has had to change her lifestyle.

"She shouldn't have to do that but she did, because you wouldn't leave her alone."

She sentenced Karim to 30 weeks suspended for 18 months with 30 days of rehabilitation activities, 100 hours of unpaid work and a five year restraining order.

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