Stalking plumber left sex toy and women's underwear in client's home after secretly getting key cut

A perverted plumber secretly made keys to a customer's house before embarking on a campaign of stalking that included leaving a sex toy and women's underwear in her home.

Shuaib Muhammad won the trust of a woman, in her 20's who has not been named due to legal reasons, after working on her Newcastle home last year.

The client left the 24-year-old her keys, which he got copied that afternoon at Asda and went back to violate the woman's home when she was working.

During his obsessive campaign the married father left a sex toy in her bathroom, planted items of women's clothing that were not the victim's.

The court was told that the defendant made silent phone calls to the customer, stole her clothing and hacked her Facebook account, reported the Newcastle Chronicle.

When he was arrested, Newcastle Crown Court heard officers discovered women's clothes and a sex toy in his van.

It was not stated during the hearing how Muhammad had come into possession of the clothes, or if he had stolen them from other customers.

Muhammad, of Marshall Wallis Road, South Shields, admitted stalking the client and was subsequently jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Prosecutor Kevin Wardlaw told the court, reported the Chronicle: "The defendant, at various times while in the address, used her underwear for the purposes of sexual gratification.

"He stole items of clothing from the address. He did so for the purposes of masturbation and sexual gratification."

He added: "He also made attempts, and did succeed, in hacking her Facebook account, social media account, with a view to obtaining information and subjected her to a number of silent telephone calls at various times of the day, 20 in total. He was silent, which added to her distress."

On the last occasion Muhammad visited the woman's home he stole a pair gardening shoes because he could not gain access to her house.

The court was told that the victim lives in fear someone "will get in or is actually in" her house and suffers nightmares, forcing her to move home.

The defendant was also handed a lifelong restraining order and a sexual harm prevention order for seven years.