A ‘creepy’ stalker watched and followed two complete strangers in Swindon and Pewsey.
Edward Vickers was convicted of two counts of stalking involving serious alarm or distress and two counts of stalking without fear, alarm or distress.
The offences relate to two different women and neither knew the defendant. One victim was targeted near their home in Swindon and the other in Pewsey.
The 44-year-old regularly stalked both women in similar circumstances – watching them and following them as they went about their usual lives.
Vickers, of Hurly Lane, Pewsey, was also convicted of possessing a knife in a public place after police found a knife in his vehicle on arrest.
One victim told of how she “knew he wasn’t right” by the way he was behaving, adding that she initially “thought he was odd and left it at that”.
But his offending continued and progressed, becoming more regular – he followed her when he knew she was alone and watched her whilst standing in her street.
In a victim personal statement, the other woman said: “I was never so scared in my life before.”
At Swindon Crown Court on 20 September, Vickers was handed a community order with the requirement to complete 30 hours of rehabilitation activity requirement days and 150 hours of unpaid work.
He was also slapped with a 10-year restraining order, prohibiting him contacting his victims and going various locations – including Hoopers Place in Old Town, Swindon, The Co-op in High Street, Old Town, Swindon, The Co-op in High Street, Pewsey and Snoopers Bazaar in Pewsey.
A three-month electronic monitoring requirement was also imposed, which bans Vickers from entering areas in which the victims live.
Wiltshire Police detective Sonja Lucas said: “I want to thank our victim and witnesses for their courage at coming forward and reporting Vickers to us.
“He followed his victim in his car, to shops and while out walking for 6 months, making her scared to go about her day-to-day life.
“We would urge anyone who suspects that they are being stalked to tell us about it. We should all feel safe living and working here in Wiltshire.”
