WESTCLIFF MAN JAILED FOR STALKING SAME RAYLEIGH WOMAN AGAIN
A SOUTHEND man has been jailed for persistently stalking a woman he had developed “an obsession” with.Kevin Martin, 40, of Brendon Way, Westcliff, was sentenced to 16 months in prison yesterday after the court heard he had already been convicted once of stalking the same woman.
She was left “terrified”, said prosecutor Philippa Page.
"He is a stranger who I have not had any relationship with," the victim wrote in a statement to Basildon Crown Court.
“Not knowing what he wants from me is unsettling.
I find myself wondering how long this could go on for and why me.” Defence barrister Jack Coyne said Martin had first seen the victim “at an extremely low point in his life”.
"For unknown reasons to him, just seeing her was a moment of clarity for him," said the lawyer.
"He didn’t feel the need to talk to her or attend her home.
For him, he tells me, just seeing her was enough to cheer him up.” Martin – who worked as a bus driver before retraining as a tipper driver – was convicted of stalking the woman in 2018.
After that, he largely left her alone until April 2025.
She spotted him following her on foot, on a motorbike or in two different cars on April 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 14, 16 and 18.
On occasions he had “lain in wait” near her workplace in Rayleigh and she spotted him driving behind her.
Having moved home after the first conviction to escape him, she was left in fear he would now follow her to her new address.
The victim said the stalking left her “emotionally drained”, suffering insomnia and panic attacks.
"The whole ordeal has taken over how I feel, think and live," she wrote.
“I don’t know what he’s capable of, what he wants from me… How far he is willing to go.” Mr Coyne said his client never intended to cause any upset or alarm.
"In fact, it was quite the opposite.
He is a man who feels some sort of connection to her… a gratitude to her and an affection for her.
"Of course, that does not detract at all from the fear she will have felt.” Sentencing Martin, Recorder Angela Frost said: “Quite frankly, the risk that you pose means that I am satisfied only an immediate custodial sentence can be appropriate.” She also imposed a ten-year restraining order.
