Stalking Leeds ex 'bombarded' woman with calls, parked outside her home and shouted through her letterbox

Fraaz Sarwar admitted charges of stalking without fear of violence and ABH and was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court this week.

Prosecutor Beatrice Allsop told the court that the 24-year-old had been in an "on/off" relationship with the victim for six years, but she ended it in May of last year. Sarwar would not accept her decision and would "try to get back with her using emotional pressure".

On June 11 last year he went to her home with flowers but she told him to leave. When she tried to close the door he jammed his foot in the way and pushed inside, knocking the woman back. He snatched her phone when she tried to call for help, then grabbed her by the hair and "ragged" her side-to-side and hit her several times with the bunch of flowers. She lost a tooth in the struggle.

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Two weeks later he tried calling her from a withheld number and then drove to her home. He banged on her door and refused to leave. He shouted through her letterbox that he could not live without her and would kill himself. He eventually left when she threatened to call the police, and left gifts outside, including a teddy.

Two days later he called her 12 times in the space of 20 minutes, again withholding his number. He then took to Twitter and posted messages about the woman ruining his life. Sanwar rang a further four times the next day, and the day after went to her home and banged on her door. She then saw his car driving by several times. She went to her father's house in fear of her safety, but Sarwar turned up.

He was arrested on July 4 and later bailed, with conditions not to contact the woman. But a month later she noticed him pass by in his car and he beckoned her to follow him and rolled down his window, but she drove off. He then bombarded her with calls using a withheld number.

He also posted further messages on Twitter and called her several more times in the weeks that followed. He eventually handed himself in at Elland Road Police Station on September 18. During his interviews he claimed the woman was the one who could not accept the relationship was finished and denied calling her.

Sarwar, of Buller Close, Harehills, maintained his innocence until the day of trial, when he switched his pleas to guilty. He has two previous convictions for four offences, including a GBH matter from 2020, for which he received a suspended sentence.

Mitigating, Holly Clegg said Sarwar had initially gone to the woman's home to get his belongings after the relationship ended, and did not intend to cause trouble.

She said: "He is not proud of what happened next. He accepts his actions that day were completely inexcusable, however, the assault was not prolonged or persistent. In relation to the harassment, in reality he struggled to come to terms with ending of the relationship." She said he was now in a new relationship and recognised the previous relationship was "toxic".

Judge Tahir Khan KC handed him a 15-month jail sentence, suspended for two years. He also gave him 20 rehabilitation days, 240 hours of unpaid work and a five-year restraining order.