A STALKER has found himself locked up after displaying obsessive behaviour towards a shop worker.
Geoffrey Mannering frequently visited a shop in Warrington town centre and insisted on only dealing with the victim.
The 42-year-old was later charged with stalking, breach of a sexual harm prevention order and breach of a suspended sentence order.
He entered guilty pleas at Warrington Magistrates’ Court, where the case proceeded to sentence.
The stalking behaviour occurred in Warrington from January this year, with events coming to a head on September 19, explained prosecutor Lydia Durkin.
Mannering pursued a course of conduct which amounted to stalking and harassment of the female shop worker.
He repeatedly and unnecessarily attended her place of work and insisted on dealing only with her.
The court heard how the defendant acted in an overly familiar manner, repeatedly invading her personal space and unnecessarily touching her physically.
Moreover, the behaviour continued even when he was not physically present, by telephoning the store and insisting on speaking only to her.
Mannering also breached a sexual harm prevention order, imposed by magistrates in April 2023, by failing to provide his mobile phone pin number to the police on request.
His guilty pleas to both offences meant that he was also guilty of breaching an eight-week prison sentence which was suspended by magistrates in June.
This was given for driving a Renault Captur on Church Street while more than three times the drink-drive limit, and for using threatening behaviour.
As a result, magistrates activated the suspended sentence, remarking that the severity of the collective offending merited immediate imprisonment.
It was said that the defendant has a ‘flagrant disregard for court orders’ in terms of the suspended sentence, and that there was a high risk of him reoffending.
In addition, magistrates took into account his previous record of offending, as well as the length of time over which the stalking took place and the impact it had on the victim.
Mannering, of Mardale Avenue in Orford, was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison, which is to be served immediately, and ordered to pay £200 in compensation to the victim.
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