A jilted boyfriend in England who drilled a peephole in his ex’s ceiling so he could spy on her from her attic has avoided jail.
Mark Thomas, 45, was discovered hiding in the woman’s house by police after she spotted a pile of dust on her bedroom floor.
The court heard how he was dumped by his girlfriend in September 2018 after he was caught cheating but refused to accept their relationship was over.
The obsessed engineer shouted to his ex-lover, “Don’t let them do this or I will go to jail!” as he was arrested.
On a previous occasion, his ex had woken to find him sitting on her bed looking through texts on her phone.
Judge Neville Biddle told Thomas he had acted in a “bizarre way” after their seven-and-a-half-year relationship ended.
He admitted stalking her between Oct. 1 and 28, 2018.
The 45-year-old was given a six-month jail term, suspended for two years, and also made subject to a five-year restraining order.
Thomas made a gesture toward the tormented victim as he was led from the court Friday.
The peephole incident came in a stalking campaign that saw Thomas twice go into the victim’s home without her knowledge to make his way into the attic to drill the hole.
Prosecutor Paul Cummings said: “She told him to leave the family home when she discovered he had been involved in a relationship with another woman, unknown to her.”
On Oct. 1, the mom had put her children in bed and gone to sleep but woke up half an hour later to find Thomas sitting at the end of her bed.
Cummings added: “He was looking at her mobile phone and asking questions about who she had been texting.”
“She got up and took the phone off him and told him to go.”
At that point, he left the bedroom and she fell asleep again.
“Sometime later she woke and found he was back in the bedroom — he was crying and he asked if he would be allowed to stay. She agreed and he remained in the house overnight.”
“At 6 a.m. she was asking him to leave and he asked if he could stop and see the children.”
“She agreed and he helped the children get ready for school. He later sent a text message apologizing for his earlier behavior.”
Later the same day, the victim returned home from work to find a pile of dust on the floor in her bedroom.
Cummings added: “She then noticed a small hole in the ceiling.”
“She came out to see if anyone was in the loft but noticed the loft hatch was closed and appeared to be locked.”
“She was still unhappy with the situation and called a friend, who told her to call the police.”
“The police went into the loft and then, of course, found the defendant hidden in the loft.”
“He was arrested and as he was being taken away he said, ‘Don’t let them do this or I will go to jail.'”
Thomas was released on bail, but within weeks had breached a condition not to contact his victim and was remanded into custody.
Sentencing him, Biddle said: “Your relationship broke down but you found it difficult to accept, and in fact, you acted in what I can only describe as a bizarre way.”
“Most bizarrely you found your way into the attic secretly so you could spy on her and keep watch.”
He agreed to suspend his six-month jail term for two years and imposed a 40-day rehabilitation activity.
Two charges relating to intimidating the woman will stay on the file.
Ben Heap of the Lancashire police said, “The victim has shown a tremendous amount of courage in supporting the police throughout this investigation.”
“We hope that today’s sentence will demonstrate our commitment as a force to pursue domestic abuse offenders relentlessly.”