Yahoo News Obsessed Devon stalkers guilty of harassment and pestering women
A man was jailed this week at Exeter Crown Court for a frightening campaign of stalking against a woman who had befriended him online. Cameron Duffy's behaviour turned dark and disturbing as his drinking got worse.
The victim ended up terrified that he might appear at any moment and constantly thought of escape routes. The courts in Devon regularly deal with offences of stalking and harassment. Some come with the threat of violence, others are just persistent and disturbing.
Defendants share common characteristics - jealousy, a sense of entitlement to a relationship and control among them. The behaviour can ruin lives.
The law used to deal with stalking is the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Stalking can include following a person, contacting a person, monitoring the use by a person of the internet, loitering and watching or spying. The maximum sentence is five years in jail.
Here DevonLive looks at recent cases involving obsessed defendants, who stalked or harassed people in their lives.
A disturbed stalker from Exeter bombarded a terrified woman with hundreds of threatening messages and shared with her his "murderous thoughts". Cameron Duffy tormented the woman with chilling texts saying he hoped she would be killed and raped.
She lived in such fear of his constant threats that she would take her phone into the shower and pre-dial 999 in case he appeared without warning. Police, probation and mental health services all expressed concern about the danger Duffy poses to the woman and others due to the sinister nature of his messages.
Duffy, previously of Exeter, was given a 14-month prison sentence at Exeter Crown Court but walked free due to the time he has already spent in custody.
A man who claimed in court "spirits" had told him to protect a Plymouth hairdresser has been jailed for stalking and ordered not to enter the city once released.
Clifford Floyd was found guilty at Plymouth Crown Court after a jury heard how he had bombarded the woman - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - with nearly 50 voicemail messages after they went on a single date.
Following the date she blocked his phone number but he refused to take no for an answer and continued to send her voice message after voice message over a period of several months during 2023.
A stalker sent his ex partner menacing videos of a knife and somebody cocking a rifle during a nasty campaign of threats, a court heard. The victim was so terrified that John Dunbar might kill her that she was put into emergency accommodation and had to move home.
Dunbar, a 30-year-old of Winner Street, Paignton, was jailed for three years at Exeter Crown Court. He sent a serious of threats to the woman, and also to some of her friends, during a month of bizarre and scary behaviour.
One video showed a hand holding a large knife while a voice made threats about "putting you in a boot". A second video showed a gloved hand sliding the bolt of a sawn-off rifle. Menacing messages also threatened the woman unless she changed her behaviour.
A nightmare boyfriend hit his partner on the knees with a hammer and embarked on an obsessive stalking campaign when she ended the relationship. Christopher Goodman started crying and apologising after violently assaulting his teenage girlfriend, a court heard.
The pair remained in a toxic relationship for several years but when she finally ended it he would not let her move on. He repeatedly sent her messages, turned up at her address, kicked her door, followed her in his van, and made threats about stabbing.
After tracking her down to a Travelodge he sent her a chilling message saying: "I can do this for days. Can you keep on hiding is the question."
An obsessed stalker was jailed for driving his ex-partner to the brink of suicide and then sent her details of a funeral plan. Craig Hocking had already been jailed twice for stalking the terrified young mother but resumed his campaign of harassment within 12 hours of being released from jail.
He infiltrated her social media apps and used them to contact her, he set up an Only Fans account in her name, and ordered a Chinese takeaway meal which turned up at her home in South Devon. She contacted his mother to beg him to stop and told her that she was so stressed and anxious that she was thinking of taking her own life.
Hocking, who had already been arrested and bailed by police, responded by sending her a message that read: “every soul shall taste death” and arranging for her to receive offers for a funeral plan, a will-writing service and life insurance. He carried on sending messages on platforms including Snapchat, Facebook, TikTok, and through her PlayStation account until he was finally locked up 17 days after his initial release.
A stalker pursued TV presenter Fern Britton to her home in Cornwall during a nearly two-year harassment campaign. James Haviland initiated his stalking campaign by sending flowers to the 66-year-old star in November 2021.
He then began making 200-mile trips from his home to stay in the village where she lives in north Cornwall. As the harassment escalated, Haviland booked a stay in a cottage owned and rented out by Britton in the area.
Haviland, 63, pleaded guilty to a single charge of stalking without fear, alarm or distress.
A fixated hotel worker was jailed for pestering a woman in the health club Jacuzzi and bombarding her with messages. Naweed Nasery, 21, ignored the women's requests to leave her alone and followed her around the Mercure Hotel whenever she came to use the gym.
He hounded her after striking up a conversation in the hot tub and when she told him to stop tried to 'guilt trip' her by saying he did not have any friends and had a difficult time in Afghanistan. Nasery, a registered sex offender, was banned at the time from approaching lone women in public due to previous similar offences.
He said he misread the signals and was just desperate for friendship. But his behaviour breached the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order imposed in January for hanging around Exeter city centre and bothering women who were on their own.
