A man has avoided prison after stalking and harassing a couple and their friend from Horsham. Police said Richard Mitchell, 58, of Foxholes, Rudgwick, appeared at Hove Crown Court last Wednesday (March, 4), charged with two counts of stalking causing serious alarm or distress, and one count of harassment. Officers said that Mitchell went out of his way to drive past the couple's house in Rudgwick multiple times a day, at a slower than walking pace, since January 2018. He would shout abuse at the victims and posted photographs of one of them to Facebook stating they were a sex offender, which was categorically incorrect, according to the force. On another occasion, police said Mitchell followed one of his victims in his car as they walked back from a shop. He subsequently mounted the pavement and drove into them, which resulted in the victim falling into a bush. Officers said he also cut up an old washing machine into thousands of pieces and dumped it on his victim's front garden. Mitchell was arrested and his mobile phone seized, on which there were a number of photographs and evidence of his offending, including a photo of offensive graffiti sprayed on the victim's garage door. Police said Mitchell was charged with two counts of stalking causing serious alarm or distress and one count of harassment. He was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for 18 months, given a 10 day rehabilitation order, ordered to pay a £140 victim surcharge and handed an indefinite restraining order protecting the three victims. Officer Oliver Robinson said: "Mitchell made the lives of his victims’ miserable and he showed little regard to the effect he was having on them. "They had to change many aspects of their day-to-day lives in efforts to avoid Mitchell. "The indefinite restraining order will give the victims’ peace of mind they will no longer be harassed by the subject. "I hope this sentence goes some way to enable the victims’ to move on from this two-year ordeal."
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