‘Creepy’ stalker from Portsmouth followed ex-partner after putting tracker on her car

Portsmouth Crown Court heard Samuel Terrett had placed the tracker two weeks before it was found by the woman’s grandfather.

Kelly Brocklehurst, prosecuting, said the woman even spotted 31-year-old Terrett driving behind her on Eastern Road, in Portsmouth, at around 10.30pm on August 4

Sentencing Terrett, of Farmside Gardens, Hilsea, a judge branded his behaviour ‘creepy, bad, controlling’.

He had amicably broken up with his partner of five years in 2017 but the break-up turned sour, the court heard.

Mr Brocklehurst said: ‘In essence the activity complained of is this defendant placing a tracker on his former partner’s car, causing that tracker to monitor her movements, following her to a particular garage in one instance and more generally contacting the victim in such a way to indicate that this defendant knew where she was at certain times.’

He added: ‘She had found a tracker underneath her car, it was her grandfather who discovered it.

‘She reported it to the police. She describes how initially she was contacted by Terrett who seemed to know of her movements and occasionally turned up in the same location as she.

‘She could not figure out what he was using.’

The Waterlooville-based victim, who The News is not naming, feared roofing cladder Terrett was using her Apple ID to track her, but found the tracker on her car on August 7. It had been there for two weeks.

When he turned up at the same mechanic garage as her, the defendant claimed he was just looking for a lost ring and was there by chance.

Then when his sister was cutting the victim’s hair, she received a text message saying: ‘Stop bad mouthing me to my sister, my ears are burning.’

Later the same day she went to her new partner’s home and saw the defendant driving by the address.

Then on August 6 the woman took her daughter, whose father is Terrett, to Chessington World of Adventures. She received a text that said: ‘You’ve gone to Chessington - you are so selfish.’

He also texted her when she had gone shopping in Southampton, claiming the woman ‘palmed (their daughter) off’ to her grandparents.

Imposing an 18-month community order with 25 rehabilitation days, Recorder Simon Levene said: ‘This was, not to speak like a lawyer but a member of the public, just creepy, bad, controlling behaviour.’

Terrett admitted stalking causing serious alarm or distress. He must pay £100 prosecution costs.

The judge said one of the reasons he did not impose a prison term was because the case took 18 months to conclude.