A WORDSLEY man with autism has been locked up for harassing his elderly neighbours and making their lives a “complete misery”.

Robin Davies carried out a campaign of unsociable behaviour against people living near to him, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

The 46-year-old, who lived with his parents in Ingatestone Drive, was seen on numerous occasions peering through people’s windows, shining a torch into their living rooms and lurking in gardens - Omar Majid, prosecuting, said.

A restraining order was issued in late 2019 but Davies continued to offend.

He admitted 18 charges of breaching a restraining order between October 28 2020 and August 14 2021 and when sentenced on Monday June 6 he was given a three-year jail term.

One of his victims Terry Bayliss told the court Davies’s behaviour had, over the years, included running half-naked in public, causing criminal damage and exposing himself to neighbours – leaving elderly and vulnerable residents startled and young teenagers concerned for their privacy.

He said he himself had suffered “intimidation and threats” and been assaulted and he told the court that during the last four-and-a-half years Davies had “continued to harass and intimidate the local community” causing a great deal of anxiety and upset, with some 300 incidents logged.

Mr Bayliss said Davies had shown “no remorse” and he described his behaviour as “totally unacceptable” – adding: “Elderly individuals have had their lives made a complete misery.”

Defending, Ms Nicole Steers, said Davies has “severe autism” which makes him “unable to process or show any form of empathy”.

She described him as “very vulnerable” and said: “He has a condition – whilst that’s not an excuse, it explains his behaviour.”

Judge Jonathan Butterfield QC sentenced him to three years in prison for each charge, to run concurrently, with half of the sentence to be served on licence. He also handed him an indefinite restraining order.

He told him he’d made a lot of people “very unhappy” and described the case as “a sad one”.

He told him: “I’d really like to be able to do something which helps you but I can’t pretend. You wouldn’t help out and wouldn’t do what you were told, that leaves me no choice but to send you to prison.”