Father-of-three stalker, 42, crept into woman’s bedroom, lifted duvet and filmed her sleeping in chilling video she found on the phone he put in her car to track her – but he’s SPARED jail
- Barry Parnell, 42, spent months stalking his victim at her home in Thanet, Kent
- The footage was found on a mobile phone being used as a tracking device
- Canterbury Crown Court hands down a suspended sentence of two years
- Victim now suffers with anxiety, trouble sleeping and has panic attacks
A man who crept into the bedroom of a woman he had been stalking, where he lifted her duvet and filmed her sleeping, has been spared jail.
The victim discovered the footage and images on a phone which Barry Parnell, 42, hid in her car as a tracking device.
The father-of-three had been following his victim for months, hiding in woodlands waiting for her to return home in Thanet, Kent, and had gone as far to trace her to an Aldi supermarket.
Parnell was even found in her garden after he was arrested and released on bail.
Barry Parnell, 42 (not pictured) waited outside the victim’s house for her to return home
Canterbury Crown Court heard that Parnell began stalking the victim in August, when he followed her to a relative’s house. He was also spotted outside her home after waiting outside her house for her return on two consecutive nights.
She became aware she was being stalked and found Parnell’s phone in the car with the images. When she confronted him, he assaulted her while trying to retrieve the phone.
Parnell was arrested in September and handed a restraining order, but he was soon spotted outside the victim’s home again, and was arrested in possession of a small quantity of cannabis and released on bail.
But, he returned again, hiding in the woman’s garden, and followed her to Gravesend Country Park two days later.
Parnell was given a suspended sentence at Canterbury Crown Court
Parnell was arrested and remanded in custody for three months.
The victim told the court that she now has trouble sleeping, suffers panic attacks and ‘anxiety ten fold’ which has had an impact on her work.
Recorder David Jeremy QC said: ‘The effect of all this on [your victim] is she has found herself constantly looking over her shoulder, wondering what is going to happen next.
‘She is in fear when she is in the house and when she leaves it, in case you follow her.’
Jack Triggs, defending, said his client had abstained from substance abuse and it was his ‘first brush with the court.’
Parnell, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to voyeurism, stalking, assault by beating and two counts of cannabis possession.
He was given a 15-month jail sentence suspended for two years, and handed a restraining order which will prohibit him from contacting the victim of being within 200 metres of her home.
He was also handed 30 probation rehabilitation days and conditional discharges for the cannabis offences.