A STALKER who harassed women across the country – claiming to have found their missing dogs before bombarding them with indecent images – has been jailed after police traced him to an address in Sheldon.
Steven Bowkett trawled missing pet websites looking for women’s phone numbers and then messaged them suggesting he’d found their dog.
But after getting owners’ hopes up he sent indecent images and videos of himself.
His victims blocked Bowkett’s number but continued to receive messages and video calls as he switched to one of many pay-as-you-go SIMs he’d bought in bulk.
The 33-year-old told women he would only stop contacting them if they submitted to his demands for topless photos.
He told one victim ‘this only ends when I see you topless’ and in another boasted ‘police can’t do anything’.
But he was wrong.
Officers tracked activity on Bowkett’s phone to Sheldon before enquiries identified him as a suspect.
Detectives found he’d acquired 28 SIM cards and contacted at least 30 women, many from the West Midlands but others across the country.
He went on to admit multiple stalking, attempted stalking and indecent exposure offences and at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday, October 18 and was jailed for four years and eight months.
Detective Sergeant Becky Leyland of the Adult Abuse Team investigated the case.
She said: “Bowkett tormented his victims: they felt there was no escape from him as he seemed to have no end of different phone numbers to contact the on.
“It must have been very frightening and caused these women serious distress.
“In interview Bowkett claimed he was drunk when sending the images and videos and couldn’t recall how many people he’d contacted.
“But these weren’t drunken mistakes. This was systematic and calculated harassment of strangers for his own gratification.
“He’s rightly been handed a long jail term and this case should serve as an example of how seriously we take offences like this and that offenders are risking a prison sentence.”
