PENRITH MAN SENTENCED FOR STALKING AND SECURITY RISKS AT SELLAFIELD
A STALKER who attached a tracking device to a Sellafield worker’s car posed a security risk to the nuclear site, a court heard.Steven Hunter, 52, became ‘obsessed’ with a woman he struck up a friendship with after they connected on Facebook Dating.
After the woman made clear she was not interested in a romance and dated two other men, Hunter began tracking her movements and attached a device he bought on Amazon to her car.
He also placed trackers on vehicles belonging to her former and current partners, including one which was being driven onto the Sellafield site on a regular basis, Workington Magistrates’ Court heard.
Outline of the offences, prosecutor Pamela Fee read a statement from the female victim who said she had matched with Hunter over Facebook Dating.
They went for a meal on August 4, 2022, and then went for coffee on August 7, 2022.
The victim said she made clear to Hunter that she wasn’t romantically attracted to him.
She wanted a friendship with him but wasn’t interested in a romance.
They struck up a friendship and went for walks together.
The victim had an operation and Hunter agreed to transport her to the hospital and stayed at her property for three days.
Hunter was getting a knee operation in February 2024, and she returned the favour when he had his operation.
The victim said Hunter would make romantic remarks and she would ‘laugh it off’ and make clear they were like brother and sister, the court heard.
In June 2024, the victim started a relationship with another man from Brampton.
On June 18, while parked at his address, her car was graffitied with the words ‘s*** on tour’ in Tipp-Ex.
The victim thought it was ‘an angry woman’ her new partner had been seeing.
On the same day, she was driving on the M6 when Hunter drove past her.
He phoned her, and she told him about the graffiti.
They agreed to pull over in a layby at Rheghed.
The victim said Hunter had white specks on his cheek.
He ‘laughed it off’ and said it was toothpaste.
Hunter said he would clean her vehicle to remove the graffiti, and they exchanged vehicles.
In another incident, the victim found two of the tyres on her vehicle were flat while she was parked outside her home.
She took it to a garage and was told the tyres had been knife slashed.
The victim installed CCTV at a neighbour’s flat and didn’t tell anybody about the camera.
She ceased contact with the man she had been seeing.
The victim suspected Hunter but her friend reassured her this was unlikely.
The victim then resumed contact with Facebook Dating, and in September 2024, met a man from Rowrah.
She told Hunter about the relationship, and he said he was happy for her.
On January 5, her new partner noticed damage to his vehicle.
The next month, the victim found a bag left on her car parked at her partner’s drive, containing letters with messages supposedly between her and another woman.
She believed her partner was cheating, though he said he was not.
On February 15, the victim was staying at her partner’s house when his vehicle was ‘significantly damaged’.
Both were scared for their safety and reported it to police.
A GPS tracker was found on the vehicle.
Her friend later saw a woman who had seen a GPS tracker in Hunter’s bedroom, matching the one found.
Trackers were also discovered on her car and her ex-partner’s vehicle.
The victim stated that Hunter ‘wanted her to suffer’ and had tried to split her relationships.
She felt ‘physically sick’ with the knowledge Hunter had tracked her for years, describing him as ‘fixated and obsessed with me and I’m appalled I was friends with him for so long’.
She said: “It’s like Steven knows he can’t have me but doesn’t want anyone else to have me either.” In a statement, her male partner said he works at Sellafield and had to check his vehicle for a tracker, which he found, posing a security risk because it could allow monitoring of the plant.
Hunter admitted to placing trackers on three cars, including one that regularly drove onto Sellafield, causing concerns about security.
He also admitted to damaging the victim’s vehicle, writing ‘s*** on tour’ on her car, and creating false messages to cause distress.
Hunter explained that he was ‘lost in life’ and had a hard time, feeling he could talk to the victim but couldn’t seek counseling due to fears of losing his firearms license.
He said he ordered the trackers after seeing an ad on Facebook and put them on the victim’s and her ex-partner’s vehicles because he was ‘forever asking’ her when she was free.
He admitted he didn’t like the victim and her partner ‘spending so much time together’.
The court noted his behaviour was highly planned and had caused significant distress.
He pleaded guilty to stalking involving serious alarm or distress, stalking without fear, and criminal damage.
Sentencing was a custodial sentence of 36 weeks, suspended for two years, plus a two-year restraining order banning him from contact with victims or visiting their addresses.
He was ordered to complete 15 days of rehab, pay £2,200 in compensation, £85 in costs, and a £175 victim surcharge.
