A STALKER who left her neighbour feeling like a ‘prisoner’ in her own home after bombarding her with messages, letters and gifts is due to be sentenced.

Sarah Stables, of Hest View Road in Ulverston, admitted she was ‘obsessed’ with the woman at South Cumbria Magistrates Court last month.

The court heard the 39-year-old told police she was ‘in love’ with her neighbour as she subjected her to a ten-month ordeal which first started with messages during the Covid lockdown.

By June, Stables then began to send more and more texts to her neighbour and received calls from the defendant when she did not reply.

The victim said the messages were causing her increasing amounts of stress when in Christmas 2022 Stables started to send her gifts.

The victim said she would leave them outside to get wet until she could find the courage to put them in the bin.

As she faced more bombardment from Stables, she changed her number but the defendant tracked her down on Facebook and began sending more messages to her using the online platform.

When reporting the ongoing campaign of stalking to the police, the victim said: “It feels like I’m living in hell.

“I no longer trust people, I feel I have been violated.

“I have asked Stables to leave me alone, she has ignored that.

“This has taken over my life for 13 months.”

Peter Kelly, prosecuting the case, said during a police interview that Stables admitted the offence and described how she was obsessed with her neighbour.

The court heard Stables was handed an eight-week suspended prison sentence after being convicted of a similar offence in 2019 with a different victim.

Stables will be sentenced at Preston Crown Court tomorrow (February 21).