Stalker who made woman fear acid attack sentenced

A man who stalked a female driving instructor for six years and left her in fear that she would be the victim of an acid attack has been sentenced.

Maksood Sadiq, 47, first contacted the victim in 2016 when he arranged driving lessons on behalf of his wife.

The messages soon continued and became more personal, with Sadiq refusing to stop when asked.

After the defendant’s wife passed her driving test in 2017 the unwanted messages resumed – this time Sadiq admitted he liked the victim and sent her romantic Bollywood songs.

For the next two years a cycle began where the defendant’s behaviour increased and continued where he repeatedly bombarded the victim with unwanted text messages and phone calls.

Despite repeated pleas to stop, the defendant continued until he paused for a few months once his wife was contacted by the victim.

In the short periods where Sadiq stopped contacting the victim, he then began appearing at her driving lessons several times a week. He would park next to her, watch her, and wait until she saw him before driving away.

In April 2021, the victim was driving on Talbot Street in Nottingham city centre when she saw Sadiq in a nearby car. He looked at her and began aggressively shouting at her to stop and speak with him.

Between April 2021 and July 2022 Sadiq continued to appear at the victim’s driving lessons from afar three or four times a week. He would appear at junctions and knew the driving lesson routes she used – forcing her to change them to areas with high footfall through fear of being attacked.

In June 2022, the victim discovered a social media account using a picture of her as the profile photo, with Sadiq using the account to declare his love and infatuation for her.

When the account was contacted, the username and profile picture were changed to “enough of Mr Nice Guy”.

Sadiq left the victim in a total state of fear for her safety and anxious of reporting the matter to the police. After finding the courage to contact Nottinghamshire Police on July 10, 2022, Sadiq was arrested the same day.

He gave a no comment interview and was bailed with conditions not to contact or approach the victim.

An interim stalking protection order was also put in place to further protect the victim in September 2022, which forced Sadiq to make his mobile phone available for inspection and to notify officers of all telephone numbers and social media accounts.

The victim told officers that Sadiq’s actions left her terrified that she would become the victim of an acid attack.

Sadiq, of Prestwood Drive, Nottingham, pleaded guilty to one count of Section 4A stalking involving serious alarm and distress and was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on July 26.

He was also made the subject of a restraining order for five years, which prevents Sadiq from contacting the victim.

Sadiq was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work, 25 days of rehabilitation activity, and pay £500 compensation to the victim and a £100 victim surcharge.

PC Eve Foley, of Nottinghamshire Police’s Public Protection team, said: “Maksood Sadiq is a stalker who has shown little remorse for his actions over this six-year campaign of abuse. Nobody is entitled to intimidate and monitor somebody in this way.

“I would like to commend the bravery of the victim for coming forward in this case who showed incredible courage to support this prosecution.

“Stalking is a very serious crime and Sadiq will have known perfectly well that his behaviour was unwanted and caused clear distress to the victim, but he continued regardless.

“I would encourage anyone who thinks they are a victim of stalking to contact us immediately once they have concerns so that we can provide the necessary support and take appropriate action."

Support is available

If you think you are a victim of stalking, please call Nottinghamshire Police on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously via 0800 555 111.

If you are in immediate danger always dial 999 and speak with a call handler.

Help and support are also available from the National Stalking Helpline, which is run by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust on 0808 802 0300.