Serial stalker from Sheldon who demanded “topless photos” from women jailed for over four years

A stalker who harassed and tormented women across the country – claiming to have found their missing dogs before bombarding them with indecent images – has been jailed after he was traced to an address in Birmingham.

Steven Bowkett, 33, trawled missing pet websites looking for women’s phone numbers and then messaged them falsely claiming to have found their pets.

A serial stalker, from the Sheldon area of Birmingham, who bombarded women from the West Midlands – and across the country – through online appeals for missing pets, has finally been put behind bars for his disturbing campaign which included sending indecent images and videos of himself.

Steven Bowkett targeted around 30 female victims by using various pay-as-you-go SIM cards to avoid being detected by the authorities. Detectives later discovered that Bowkett had acquired 28 SIM cards for the relentless torment of women. To evade detection the serial stalker would continually switch to one of the many SIMs which he would buy in bulk.

His traumatised victims blocked Bowkett’s number but the women continued to receive messages and video calls as the stalker switched over to another SIM to continue his abuse and torment.

The stalker threatened his victims saying he would only stop contacting them if they submitted to his demands for topless photos. He told one shocked victim “this only ends when I see you topless” and in another boasted “police can’t do anything”.

Police finally tracked activity on Bowkett’s phone to the Sheldon area of Birmingham and the stalker was arrested for his crimes.

He went on to admit multiple stalking, attempted stalking and indecent exposure offences and at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday (18th Oct) jailed for four years and eight months.

Detective Sergeant Becky Leyland, from the Adult Abuse Team, who investigated the case, said: “Bowkett tormented his victims: they felt there was no escape from him as he seemed to have no end of different phone numbers to contact the on.

“It must have been very frightening and caused these women serious distress.

“In interview Bowkett claimed he was drunk when sending the images and videos and couldn’t recall how many people he’d contacted.

“But these weren’t drunken mistakes. This was systematic and calculated harassment of strangers for his own gratification.

“He’s rightly been handed a long jail term and this case should serve as an example of how seriously we take offences like this and that offenders are risking a prison sentence.”