A man wearing a ‘trench coat and a red hoody’ stalked mothers as they took their kids to school and sprayed one with bodily fluid from a syringe, a court heard. Travis Ward kept a tally of the encounters of the women, making up names for them and writing in notes on his phone what he would he would like to do with them.
Another was stalked while he wore a face covering and a dark coat. Grimsby Crown Court heard police found his membership of banned far-right group Britain First along with vile images on his phone. Travis, 22, from Londesborough, admitted four stalking offences, sexual assault by spraying one woman with semen from a syringe and an offence of possession of indecent images of a woman having sex with a Dalmatian dog and a horse.
Claire Holmes, prosecuting, told how one of the women became so frightened of seeing him each time she took her daughter to school that she stopped taking her for fear of what he might do to her or her daughter. On multiple occasions he trailed her as she went to and from the school.
When he was reported to police by one of the women, police arrested him. He resisted and officers had to use Pava spray to detain him. His phone revealed sickening details of his secret encounters stalking four women.
From the phone evidence police were able to identify the other women who were being secretly stalked. In a victim impact statement read by Miss Holmes, one woman said: “I was terrified what he might do. I hope he realises the sheer fear and anxiety he caused to my family.”
Mitigating, Hannah Turner urged Judge Gurdial Singh to assess a psychological report which described his low intellectual ability and highlighted autism traits which resulted in him becoming fixated. She said he was living an isolated life at the time. He had an online girlfriend in the USA, whom he had never met.
He joined Britain First due to his isolation, she added. Judge Singh said: “One can only imagine the fear they (victims) must have felt.” He jailed Ward for a total of 40 months and handed down a seven-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order. He will be on the Sex Offender Register for seven years, along with a ten-year restraining order, reported HullLive.
After the hearing, Detective Sergeant Sam Cunnington from Humberside Police Protecting Vulnerable People Unit, said: “Ward is an obsessive, methodical individual who documented his plans to stalk women across Hull as they went about their daily business, before acting on his plans, and subsequently diarising them all for his own personal sexual gratification.
“Before he went out on his hunt, he donned a trench coat, red hoody and face covering to alter his persona and was seen multiple times on CCTV wearing the same clothing as he pursued and intimidated women, who were strangers to him, as he followed them home or as they took their children to school.
“Following multiple reports, and after one brave woman came forward to contact the police whilst she was being followed by Ward in the area of Porter Street in Hull, officers were able to identify and arrest him nearby on the same day. Whilst in custody, Ward’s devices including phones, computers and hard drives were subsequently seized and examined, revealing videos of extreme animal pornography, as well as a digital diary full of derogatory and offensive language highlighting who he was planning to target.
“I would like to commend the four women for coming forward and reporting Ward. It is because of their bravery, we were able to stack up the evidence against him, leading to Ward deciding to plead guilty, and eventually being put behind bars.
“The streets of Hull will be much safer without him on them.” He added: “We take all reports of sexual assault, stalking and other sexual offences extremely seriously and we will continue to seek justice for those who have suffered from crimes of similar nature.
“We would encourage anyone who believes they have been a victim of, or has witnessed these kind of crimes, in any form, to please contact us as soon as possible via our non-emergency number 101. Always call 999 in an emergency or if a crime is ongoing.
“If you cannot talk on the phone, you can dial 999 and listen to the questions from the operator, and if you can, cough or tap on the handset to reply. You can also press 55 on your handset to make yourself heard and this will transfer your call directly to the police.”
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