Ulverston stalker 'obsessed' with neighbour

Sarah Stables told police she was 'in love' with her neighbour and sent hundreds of messages, letters and gifts to her home, a court was told.

South Cumbria Magistrates' Court heard the ten-month ordeal left the victim feeling like a 'prisoner' in her own home.

The court heard how the 39-year-old defendant first exchanged messages with her neighbour in Ulverston's Hest View during the Covid lockdown.

But by June 2022 the message escalated and Stables began to send more and more texts to her neighbour and received calls from the defendant when she did not reply.

The victim said the messages were causing her increasing amounts of stress when in Christmas 2022 Stables sent her gifts.

The victim said she left them outside to get wet until she could find the courage to put them in the bin.

She said as she faced more messages and calls from Stables she changed her number but the defendant tracked her down on Facebook and began sending more messages using the platform.

She said she was told by a mental health worker that Stables had admitted she had romantic feelings for her neighbour, the court heard.

"I was shocked that she thought there was anything romantic between us," the woman told police.

Describing the ongoing campaign of stalking as she reported it to police, the victim said: "It feels like I'm living in hell."

Opening up on the effect of the stalking, she added: "I no longer trust people, I feel I have been violated.

"I have asked Stables to leave me alone, she has ignored that.

"This has taken over my life for 13 months."

Prosecutor Peter Kelly said during a police interview Stables admitted the offence and described how she was obsessed with her neighbour.

The court Stables had been convicted of a similar offence in 2019 with a different victim, being handed an eight-week suspended prison sentence.

Magistrates sent the case for sentencing at Preston Crown Court, where Stables is due to appear on February 21.