A convicted child sex offender who stalked a young Carlisle city shop worker has been sentenced by a judge.
Callum Jordan Stephen Johnson, 21, pestered the female — who looked several years younger than her age of 20 — for a fortnight in early July.
Seemingly aware of her daily routine, Johnson alarmed the woman with his repeated and disconcerting behaviour, Carlisle Crown Court was told.
He spoke of spending a lengthy period in custody having committed sexual offences against a child; hinted he may ask her out; invaded her personal space; and tried to hug her.
“She describes him as freaking her out,” said prosecutor Brendan Burke.
“She did have a feeling he was watching her. However she varied her routine, he would still make an appearance.”
Johnson admitted a stalking in September when he appeared before magistrates who heard he had previously spent six years in custody and committed offences including child rape and voyeurism.
He was sentenced at the crown court having been remanded in custody since July.
A probation officer suggested he could serve his punishment in the community while Judge Simon Medland QC observed that Johnson, of no fixed address, would be released almost immediately if given a prison sentence, because of time already served.
Johnson was given a three-year community order with a lengthy rehabilitation requirement. He was also banned from contacting the woman for five years.
“You are yet a young man and you have your whole life ahead of you,” said Judge Medland.
“You have some troubling antecedents — in other words you have been in trouble for misbehaving in a sexual sense towards women.
“You must understand that the time has now come: if you continue to behave like this, you will find yourself in prison for a very long time.”
