Yahoo News 'Cunning and sinister' stalker jailed after bombarding victims with messages including death threats, even during his trial
A stalker who bombarded victims including a barrister, headteacher and NHS staff with threatening voicemails and emails has been jailed for six years.
Afzal Miah even sent threatening messages to his targets during his trial, which saw him convicted of seven counts of stalking, and one count of breaching a criminal behaviour order (CBO) and a restraining order.
The Met Police said the “cunning and sinister” 33-year-old frequently diverted police away from actual crimes by making fake reports about his “bullies”, trying to get them sacked and arrested.
Some of his victims were known to him and had helped him in the past, while others had no affiliation with him, police said.
Miah was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London on Thursday where he was also handed a 10-year restraining order, the Metropolitan Police said.
Police said he had fled to Belfast to escape the jurisdiction of his CBO but was tracked down and extradited.
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Investigating officer Sergeant Jonathan Brandman said: “Afzal Miah is an incredibly cunning and sinister individual who has taken great pleasure in making his victims feel vulnerable and frightened.
“The fact that he fled to Northern Ireland to escape his CBO, and knew that there is no such offence, shows how dangerous this individual is.”
Detective Constable David Tate, from Scotland Yard’s stalking threat assessment centre, said: “Miah is what we would call a ‘resentful’ stalker – someone who feels as though they have been mistreated or that they are the victim of some form of injustice or humiliation and they want to exact revenge or ‘even the score’.
“In Miah’s own head, he believed that the systems had failed him and he became fixated on the ‘disservice’ he thinks that he received from some of his victims.”
