Stalker who used Tinder to terrorise ex jailed

A stalker who set up a fake Tinder dating app account in his ex's name and invited strangers to her house has been jailed.

Asad Hussain, from Cheadle in Greater Manchester, made random men believe the victim wanted to engage in a "rape fantasy" and be "roughed up".

Chester Crown Court heard on one night in August 2024 four men attended her Northwich address in a single night, while in September a man shoved her door so hard that it smashed.

Hussain, 36, was convicted of stalking causing serious alarm or distress, assault and failing to comply with an order to provide passwords to his devices and jailed for eight years.

In a victim statement read to the court, the woman said: "No person has the right to make me feel unsafe in my own home just because I no longer want to date them.

"No should mean no. Now I am left wondering how many men have my address and believe I want to be sexually assaulted, or worse."

Cheshire Police said the victim met Hussain in April 2024 when he was using the fake name 'Mick Renney'.

The pair went on a few dates but as the relationship developed he became "increasingly controlling", and on 6 May that year, after she found he had taken her phone and read through her messages, she ended the relationship.

On that occasion Hussain followed her to the bathroom and said she could not have her phone without him being present, and when she tried to close the door he pushed his way in knocking her to the floor.

That was the last time she saw the man she knew as Renney - and she did not learn his real identity until after he was arrested.

After the split Hussain sent messages to her daughter and friends accusing her of cheating on him, while also messaging the woman to try and rekindle their relationship.

The situation became more frightening in July 2024 when strangers attended her home saying they had matched with her on the dating app, and she had invited them round.

This continued for more than a month, with some men telling her they had received messages about a rape fantasy and that if she said no it meant "she wanted it more".

On one occasion a man entered her home while her teenage daughter was alone upstairs, although he left after a few minutes.

At least 18 men were deceived into attending the address, although police believe the true number could be higher.

The woman suspected it was the man she knew as Mick Renney, but when she reported it to Cheshire Police they could not find a man of that name on their systems.

Officers then checked doorbell camera footage from her house and were able to check the registration of the car Renney had been driving - which was registered to Asad Hussain.

When he became aware the police wanted to speak to him, Hussain changed the vehicle's registration and dumped a mobile phone he had been using for the Mick Renney alter ego.

However on 6 October 2024 a van he was driving was spotted in Cumbria and he was arrested.

Cheshire Police said Hussain denied all wrongdoing but detectives were able to show that devices he used had set up the fake Tinder accounts.

They also learned that every time the fake accounts were active, he had travelled from the Cheadle area to Northwich and would sit in a layby two miles from the victim's home for hours at a time sending messages.

In an attempt to find what police had on him, Hussain even messaged the victim pretending to be one of the men who had attended her home and asked whether police had identified him.

After the sentencing, investigating officer PC Keith Terrill said: "This has been one of the most technically complex and disturbing stalking cases Cheshire Constabulary has ever investigated.

"It has however once again shown that the internet offers no sanctuary to those who wish to commit violence against women and girls and domestic abuse."

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