A mum says she suffered a miscarriage after being terrorised by her perverted neighbour for FIVE years – including burning an EFFIGY of her in the garden.
Caroline Bawdon, 42, was tormented by her parents’ neighbour Stanislaw Johnson after she moved into their home to care for them.
The initially friendly pensioner turned on her for no apparent reason – taunting her with bizarre insults and laughing in a sinister way whenever he saw her.
But the taunts took a dark turn and he burned a 6ft effigy of Caroline – complete with a blonde wig – in his back garden, while shouting ‘burn in hell’.
He breached a restraining order FOUR times – even masturbating on his porch, while she was sunbathing and threatening to rape her daughter.
A day before she was due to provide evidence at his trial, Caroline, who was seven-weeks-pregnant miscarried her baby.
Distraught Caroline said the years of torment saw her lose her job and she only feels able to speak out after he died while being detained in a psychiatric unit.
Caroline, a former health centre receptionist, said: “I’m a shadow of my former self. I used to have a job, a car, I was healthy and happy.
“I used to be able to drive but now even nervous in the passenger seat. I think it’s because every time I used to come out my car he would be there.
“Hopefully one day I’ll get back behind the wheel but now I’m just too anxious. He’s completely ruined my life.
“It was completely devastating.
“The stress of it all made me lose my beautiful baby.
“Despite the fact he had been sentenced I couldn’t relax.
“I lived in fear of bumping into him again as I thought he would be out for revenge because I put him in prison.”
Caroline moved into her parents’ house in Lytham, Blackpool, in 2009 to help her 74-year-old mum, who was suffering from chronic pancreatitis.
But after a year of caring for her elderly parents neighbour Stanislaw launched his sinister tirade of harassment.
She said: “We used to get on at the beginning. He’d always give me a friendly ‘hiya’ whenever I would pop in and out the house.
“We were friendly enough for him to be invited to my sister’s 21st. Then after about a year it just escalated.
“The smiles would turn into a sinister laughter. When I walk to my car he would say provocative things like ‘Lovely girl Caroline’ and ‘That’s it good girl Caroline.
“It was cringey.
“When I used to work in the jewellers in town he bought a pack of seeds and chucked them into the shop so the pigeons would come in.
“Again he’d stand there laughing. The next few weeks he’d follow me to work.
“Then I was walking past his house one afternoon and he started calling me a zombie and that I was going to experience pain.
“He went ‘Enjoy the pain zombie’ and then told me my family were going to burn.
“At first I thought he was a nut job but he was encroaching every aspect of my life.
“If I was in the garden he’d walk all the way to the back of our garden.
“If I asked what he was doing he just laughed.
“If I were in the kitchen he would make a point of being in his kitchen which is directly across.
“He would wave his arms about and without a top on.
“Or maybe he was naked – I just couldn’t tell.
“He would make wanking gestures and just start laughing.
“It was intimidating.
“Making a sandwich would come with making sure all the blinds were closed so he couldn’t see us.
“But that didn’t last long as he started opening his kitchen window shouting ‘Lovely Caroline’ alongside this crazed laughing.
“My parents decided to build a 6ft wall between the two kitchens.
“If we were on the pavement outside our house he would stand at his bedroom window grinning and shouting that we were to ‘burn in hell’.
“When I would walk my dog he would follow me and start shouting abuse.
“It was all to do with fire.
“I wasn’t safe in or outside my parent’s home.”
In 2010 Johnson was handed his first restraining order having been caught masturbating in his porch while Caroline sunbathed.
Despite initially respecting the restraining order within months Johnson was back to his warped tirade.
He burned a 6ft effigy, complete with a blonde wig in his back garden, shouting ‘burn in hell’.
Caroline said: “When he was given the first restraining order he was told not to have no verbal or physical contact with me.
“He respected that for about three months and wouldn’t even look at me.
“But then it just started again.
“I’d phone the police and he’d get arrested but he’d be back out in a day or two.
“Then one day I saw a big plume of smoke coming from the back garden.
“I saw it was coming from his garden.
“I looked over and saw this figure dressed in a blonde wig and a t-shirt.
“He was on his hands and knees chanting my name.
“Then he got up with his hands on his hips shouting ‘burn in hell’.
“He was 6ft 3in bald man standing there like a laughing clown.
“It looked like me.
“It was terrifying.
“The fire but he refused to let them tend to the fire.
“So the police had to be called.
“I was told to get inside for my own safety.
“Later that week the fire brigade came to my house to fit smoke alarms.
“They also fitted a special bag behind the letter box to catch any incendiary devices.
“They also provided us with a small hammer to break the double glazed windows in case we had to exit the house in the emergency.
“He wasn’t like this with my parents but any time I was there he would get like this.
“We couldn’t take any chances.”
In 2013 Johnson was charged with two counts of breaching the restraining order and stalking after shouting he would ‘f***’ Caroline and “rape your daughter”.
In March 2014 Johnson was sentenced to three years at Preston Crown Court for two offences of acting in breach of a restraining order, plus one offence of stalking, likely to cause fear of violence or serious alarm, or distress.
The court heard how Johnson had shouted he would rape the Caroline’s daughter.
The judge told Johnson: “You should be thoroughly ashamed.”
He was due for release in December 2016 but the day he made a derogatory remark to a prison officer about Caroline.
His sentence extended and he was sent to Harbour psychiatric unit.
Caroline still lived in fear of Stainslaw returning to the street and continuing his rampage.
Last July when visiting her parents’ house Caroline was told by a neighbour that Stanislaw had died.
Caroline claims she has been let down by the authorities who failed to tell her of his death and says despite him never returning, she remains traumatised by his actions.
She said: “A neighbour came up to me and said ‘I can’t believe Stanislaw is dead’.
“He had died a few months earlier in May.
“It would have been nice to be told by the police.
“Although he was back behind bars there was no date for me to look out for.
“I was still looking over my shoulder.
“It was a bit of a ‘ding dong the witch is dead’ moment when I was told he had died.
“It was a weight had been lifted.
“But you don’t bounce back immediately from these things.
“Before he started his obsession with me I had a job, car, I was healthy and happy.
“I now have no job because I have Acute Anxiety Disorder and depression.
“I just want people to know how things like this can affect your life and should be taken seriously.
“I didn’t tell anyone about it. I just used to shrug him off as a nut job.
“But he’s ruined my life.
“I’m slowly getting back to the person I used to be.
“I’m not dependent on alcohol and I’ve started exercising.
“But I’m still a shadow of who I used to be.”
Timeline
2009 – Caroline moves in with parents to care for sick mum
2010 – Johnson started to be weird. First restraining order late 2010 after he was masturbating while she sunbathed.
2010- Caroline says Stainslaw was charged four times with something (I imagine harassment). Police say it is too long ago to confirm this.
2011 – He keeps being weird. She moves out.
2012 – Burns effigy, Caroline miscarries, Johnson continues being weird, shouts he will rape her daughter.
November 2013 – Case is heard in Preston Crown Court
March 2014 – Johnson is sentenced to three years in prison
June 2016 – Johnson due to be out but makes derogatory remark about Caroline to prison officer and is kept in and moved to psychiatric ward