A KITCHEN fitter from Basingstoke stalked a woman by driving around with posters of her stuck to the outside of his van, a court heard.

Neil Chapple put four A4 sized pictures of the victim on the back of the bright blue vehicle 'for no reason other than to upset her'.

He then drove to the supermarket she was visiting with her image plastered on to the van.

The 53-year-old father of three has now been handed a two-year restraining order, including a ban from mentioning the woman on Facebook.

Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court heard that over the course of a week in February this year, Chapple, of Stukeley Road, was involved a series of incidents targeting the woman.

Prosecutor Ryan Seneviratne said: "On February 4 this year, Mr Chapple, who owns a bright blue Ford Transit van, parked right opposite where the complainant lives.

"[The complainant] says trees don't have leaves at this time of year and there he was in plain sight - up to no good.

"The defendant claims he was there to return a call to his boss although no phone call to his boss was made."

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The court heard a second incident took place February 7, when Chapple arrived at the Basingstoke road woman lived on.

"He wanted to give [her new partner] evidence that he had been involved in some kind of relationship with [the complainant]."

Mr Seneviratne told the court that the third incident happened on February 8 when Chapple pulled out behind them in his van, although Chapple claimed this was coincidental.

The fourth incident occurred February 9 when the woman was driving to a Morrisons supermarket with her son.

Mr Seneviratne added: "His van came into view as she drove [to the shop]. She and her son went into Morrisons and [Mr Chapple] went into the petrol station.

"[The complainant] then saw Mr Chapple enter Morrisons and zigzagging between aisles to see what she and her son were doing.

"He says he didn't follow them into Morrisons.

"But he had four A4 posters on the rear of the van - two on each side. For no other reason than to upset her.

"Can I invite the court to put themselves in the position of [the complainant]? Would they have felt harassed or threatened when moving behind the van seeing yourself on the back."

The court heard that while Chapple accepted to put pictures of  the woman on the back of his van, he denied the other incidents.

Rebecca Mcknight, defending, said: "Mr Chapple agrees with the prosecution in relation to the pictures.

"[Mr Chapple] ought to have known that was harassing conduct."

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Mr Seneviratne concluded: "[Mr Chapple] accepts driving around with pictures [of the victim] for no good reason.

"That alone justifies the making of an order."

Although the court decided not to proceed with criminal charges against Chapple, he was handed a restraining order.

District Judge Timothy Pattinson said: "This court considers it necessary to make such an order to protect someone, or in this case two people, from harassment by you."

The restraining order came with four prohibitions.

Mr Pattinson, speaking to Chapple, added: "You are not to contact [the complainant] directly or indirectly save for during any court hearing or tribunal.

"And you are not to display any image or reference in writing to [the complainant] which includes any public place including the internet and social media."

Having been handed the restraining order, Chapple was ordered to immediately remove a Facebook post from the morning of the court case.

He had said 'back in Basingstoke for the court case with the crazy one' followed by a winky emoji.