A STALKER who loitered outside a woman's home late at night on several occasions has been spared jail.

Jeffrey Ashfield was handed a 12-week imprisonment suspended for two years at Warrington Magistrates' Court on Thursday, April 22, after admitting stalking.

Between May and August last year, the 47-year-old waited outside her home in Sankey Bridges under the cover of darkness at least four separate times.

He also sent the woman, who he had previously been in a relationship with, unwanted gifts in the post and bombarded her with ‘persistent’ unsolicited emails.

Ashfield, from Wilmslow, was also handed a restraining order preventing him from contacting the woman or entering her estate for the next five years.

Magistrates imposed a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 35 days and told the defendant to pay a £128 victim surcharge plus court costs of £85.