An “obsessive” and “creepy” stalker left a woman “frightened” and in tears as he subjected her to six months of disturbing encounters including turning up whenever she went out.
Ian Barton, 31, of St Pauls Close, Runcorn appeared at Chester Crown Court for sentence on Thursday, and was twice sent down to the cells for disrupting proceedings during the hearing before sentence was finally passed in his absence. Peter Hussey, prosecuting, said Barton's stalking took place between May and November last year, during which time Barton subjected his victim to an array of “obsessive” behaviour and “harassing her”.
Mr Hussey said the working mother-of-three, who lived in the neighbourhood, was left “fearful of leaving her house”. She said Barton “would always be looking over into her property” over a fence, and this happened “multiple times on a daily basis”.
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When she stepped outside the front door, Barton would appear outside and she would “have to hurry back inside to avoid contact with him” the court heard.
Mr Hussey said: “Almost every time she tried to emerge from her house the defendant would be there or would come out and she found it very unnerving.”
On one occasion, her son answered a knock at the door thinking it would be his friend.
Instead, it was Barton who uttered words to the effect of: “If your fella’s got a problem then tell him to come and say it to me, I could hear you both talking about me yesterday.”
A court heard, her partner was working abroad at the time, and when she told this to Barton, “his demeanour changed completely” and he “became creepy”, as he “began winking at me and put his tongue out”, causing her to feel “very scared”.
Other encounters included him offering her a hedge trimmer, with his behaviour amounting to “constant attention, which for her was unwanted and which she felt had some ulterior motive”.
In one incident, he "licked his lips" and winked at her as he “looked her dead in the eye” and said “I’ve got something to say to you – it’s going to be awkward.”
He then said: “I really like you.
“I know you’ve got a fella and kids, you should get to know me.”
She told him “no”, and felt “very nervous”.
Police were called soon after her partner returned from abroad and Barton resumed “hanging over the back fence looking into the back door”, causing her to “burst into tears” because she felt “trapped”.
Her partner told him to leave her alone, and Barton apologised but “started laughing” and said “I just get dead jealous”.
She was “shaking and crying” and it “really frightened” her, and soon after she called the police when her Ring doorbell showed two sets of knocks at the door, a few hours apart, were from Barton.
In her victim impact statement she said she hadn’t known Barton at all other than to occasionally say “hello” to but she no longer felt safe and realised she would have to move house.
Recorder Ciaran Rankin approved an indefinite restraining order, without any condition to prohibit visiting her updated address as this would let Barton know where she moved to.
Barton was convicted at trial on December 16 of one count of stalking involving serious alarm or distress, and on Thursday he also pleaded guilty to breaching a suspended sentence imposed for three counts of harassment after he confronted and threatened an ex-partner, her mother and legal representative outside a Merseyside family court.
A probation officer told Chester Crown Court his rehabilitation compliance had also been “poor”.
Mr Hussey said Barton had 10 convictions for 23 offences including assaults, damage, threatening behaviour, harassment in 2016, and a “number of convictions for driving matters”.
The ECHO reported in December 2018 how Barton was jailed for 22 months for dangerous driving after aiming a car at a police officer trying to arrest him and reversing at speed into other vehicles.
The sentencing range for stalking was one to four years with a 30-month starting point.
William Staunton, defending, asked the court to consider “totality” and Barton’s “mental health difficulties” as described in the pre-sentence report and evinced by the “behaviour of the defendant towards your honour today”.
Barton’s repeated interruptions in court started out by saying the verdict was “wrong” then he said he didn’t pay tax and accused taxpayers of funding the deaths of children, the implication this was via collateral damage resulting from military action, Mr Staunton said, adding the claim was “wild” and showed his lack of "control".
Mr Staunton said: “He clearly has issues with his inability to control his desire to utter his thought processes and some of those thought processes are troubling, and the lady concerned found it very disturbing.”
He added: “One comes across people who are different and that difference can sometimes be found to be problematic and strange.”
Mr Staunton said Barton’s behaviour was “clearly disturbing” but Barton “can’t understand”.
He said he asked Barton if any of his conduct related to cannabis consumption but he “denies that”.
Recorder Rankin sentenced Barton, in his absence, to 32 months in prison.
During his summing-up, he said: “He’s not in the dock having been sent down to the cells to cool off after an inability to control his comments when the case was called on.
“Having been given the chance to cool off he was taken back up from the cells and again he began to interrupt proceedings.
“Therefore he was sent back, knowing that this sentencing process would carry on in his absence.”
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He added: “He (Barton) became obsessive and she was afraid to leave her house.
“He always appeared to be outside when she stepped through her front door.
“The behaviour became creepy.
“This was constant and unwanted attention.
“It’s clear you wanted to begin a relationship and you refused to concede she wasn’t interested in one.
“Your behaviour has resulted in her having to leave home.”
Mr Staunton assured the judge he would let Barton know that breaching the restraining order carried a maximum prison sentence of five years.
Cheshire Constabulary had been unable to provide an updated custody picture of Barton by 5pm on Monday following an initial request after noon on Thursday.
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