STUN GUN STALKER WALKS FREE
A STALKER who bought a stun gun disguised as a mobile phone over the internet just days after police confiscated a similar weapon has walked free from court.Mathew Bastin also had a quantity of potassium cyanide, a GPS tracking device, lock knife, claw hammer and books on kidnap in his bedroom.
The 35-year-old, who has a history of harassing ex-girlfriends, had ‘literature about death, abduction, murder and crime’ in the room as well.
But after hearing Bastin, of Botley Copse, Peatmoor, had spent the equivalent of a 10-month sentence in custody on remand, Judge Euan Ambrose imposed a community order.
The judge added although the items found when he was arrested caused him ‘anxiety’ they were not illegal and he was only before the court for buying two stun guns.
Sue Cavender, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how police raided Bastin’s home in July as a result of information they had received and found the haul.
As well as the stun gun, tracking device and poison, which was in a 1kg tub, they also found a British Airways uniform and car park pass for Heathrow, where he used to work.
She said there was evidence that he had bought another stun gun in February, a few days after he had been arrested for stalking his ex and having a similar weapon.
The court heard in late 2010 Bastin fitted a tracking device to the car of a former girlfriend, whom he met when they both worked at Heathrow, so he could track her movements.
At around the same time he bought the first stun gun, which was confiscated on February 10, 2011, when he was first arrested.
On that occasion he had a rucksack in his car containing a hammer, duct tape, rope in the shape of a noose, the tranquiliser temazepam, a screwdriver and a torch.
Last May, after admitting harassment, he was put on a suspended sentence and banned from approaching the victim, but he continued to turn up at her work and home.
He was then arrested in July when the police found the latest stun gun and other items in his home.
When he was questioned he admitted destroying a stun gun he bought online in February but buying another in June and said he had been ‘stalking’ his former partner.
Bastin pleaded guilty to two counts of buying or acquiring prohibited weapons.
Police have said the devices, classified as firearms under the Firearms Act, have the appearance of a mobile phone, each capable of emitting a 4.5 million Volt output.
Rob Ross, defending, said his client had been in custody since August and even though he had served the earlier suspended sentence he had still spent 156 days on remand.
That meant if the court imposed a jail term he would be out in a few months and would receive little help in the community.
He said there was no suggestion the weapons had ever been brandished, let alone used, though Bastin admitted trying one on himself and said it ‘hurt like hell’."
