A stalker has been sent to a mental hospital after he defied a court order and pestered a terrified shop worker.
Michael Frew has a history of developing obsessions with women who are complete strangers and making their life a misery by unwanted advances.
He was already subject to an order preventing him from annoying female strangers when he began following a woman who worked at a shop in Exeter's High Street.
Frew suffers from a mental disorder which is a combination of schizophrenia and bipolar and he will now be treated at a semi secure hospital away from Exeter.
Frew, aged 39, of Darwen Court, Exeter, admitted breaking a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) and was detained under the Mental Health Act.
Mr James Taghdissian, prosecuting, said Frew was made subject of a SOPO last year when he was in court for earlier harassment offences.
He said his next victim became alarmed at his behaviour which included visiting her home in Exeter and going to the shop where she worked.
He told police he had passed her door by accident while on his way to play football at Bull Meadow Park.
Mr Taghdissian said:"He is a man who becomes fixated with single young females in Exeter and harrasses them."
Mr Warren Robinson, defending, said Frew accepted that an order under the Mental Health Act was the right way of dealing with the case.
Judge Phillip Wassall told him:"This is a serious offence. The order is in place to protect women like this being confronted by people like you who pester them. She must have been very alarmed at this.
"However, I have seen reports from two consultant psychiatrists showing you suffer from a schizo affected disorder that is suitable for treatment."
He warned him that if his behaviour continued when he returns to the community he was at risk of being seen as a dangerous offender because of the serious emotional effects on his victims.
