Jason Smith bombarded Alexandra Scarlett with up to 30 threatening messages a day on her Facebook and MySpace accounts.In a series of vicious rants, Smith, 23, vowed to slash the 20-year old student's face, said he would rape her mother and aunt and also threatened to shoot her father.
Miss Scarlett, who had given Smith her phone number after meeting him at a Manchester nightclub, repeatedly shut down her accounts and opened up new ones - but he always managed to track them down and hound her again.
She tried to block his Facebook page 40 times but he set up new ones and posted further terrifying messages, including threatening to kill her.
Today Smith was under a lifetime restraining order banning him from contacting Miss Scarlett after a judge said he needed treatment for an ‘erotic mania’ psychological disorder.
He was also given a 12-month prison term suspended for two years after he admitted harassment.
Sentencing him at Manchester Crown Court, the judge, Mr Recorder Stephen Bedford, described Smith’s actions as ‘chilling’.
He told the offender: ‘You had just one meeting with Alaxandra Scarlett and she made what she probably regrets as one of the biggest mistakes of her life.
‘It seems you think you are God’s gift to women and when they do not respond to you cannot accept it.’
He added: ‘You appear to have no idea of the impact that messages like that could have. ‘Although she changed address, you continued… this must have been quite chilling for her.’
The victim was too upset to talk about her ordeal. But in statement read to court she said:
‘I was petrified that he might find me.
‘I felt like I could not go out into Manchester as much anymore and I felt harassed and controlled. I resent the fact that I have been forced to change my lifestyle.’
A friend said: ‘Alexandra was in fear of her life. She didn’t know what this man was capable of.’
The internet hate campaign took place between November 2007 and March 2009 after Smith, of Newall Green, Manchester met Miss Scarlett in Pure nightclub in the city centre.
Louise Brandon, prosecuting, said: ‘Miss Scarlet gave him her telephone number. That was the last the pair saw of each other.
‘Following that night the defendant began calling and sending text messages to Miss Scarlet.
'In the follow week he began calling frequently, this could be up to 30 times in one day.
‘After a week or two she asked him to stop calling her. After that she started to receive text messages saying that he was going to shoot her father.’
Miss Scarlett went to police but Smith then began posting 30 messages a week on her My Space page saying she was a ‘slag.’
Miss Brandon added: ‘He was saying he loved her and then calling her unkind names in the next message.
‘He had sent her a message saying that if he found her he would slash her face, and that he was going to find her and kill her.
‘She became frightened, she cancelled the MySpace and set up a new account but he found it. She shut it down again and made another and again he found it.
‘He got hold of her new mobile number through a friend or family member on MySpace. He had begun speaking to them pretending to be her boyfriend.
‘He also pretended to be her and sent her friends messages say that she was going to smash them up.
‘She has blocked him from Facebook 40 times, but each time he has set up a new Facebook page and continued to contact her.
‘In some messages he said that he loved her, she was convinced that they were all from the defendant and he was sending her text messages up to 30 times a day - some were violent.
‘Through Facebook he sent messages threatening to rape her mother and her aunt.
‘When Miss Scarlet moved out of the area he threatened to kill her. He called her a grass for telling the police and then said he was going to slash her face.’
When arrested in March 2009 Smith said he thought he had ‘fallen in love’ with Miss Scarlett and claimed she had been calling him too.
Alexander Leach, defending, said: ‘The defendant has difficulty in grasping the full facts of this case.
‘This was obviously a frightening and distressing period of the complainant’s life.
‘On the other hand Mr Smith is wrestling with the reality of what took place and his understanding of what took at the time. He saw what he thought was the beginning of a relationship.’
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