A relentless stalker served just two days in prison after being brought before a judge for a campaign of terror which saw him follow his victim to the summit of England’s third highest mountain.

The woman, who fears for her life, told how she froze in terror as she reached the 3,117ft peak of Helvellyn with her walking group to see the figure of John Hall, 50, looming above her through the mist.

Hall then got behind the woman and her friends and followed them back down the mountain for seven hours before pursuing the woman in his car.

After a frightening chase through the Lake District the married man was arrested for the 10th time over his harassment of the woman with whom he’d been having a lengthy affair with before being dumped.

Hall was brought before a court and sentenced for stalking, but was freed two days after the hearing because of the time he had already spent on remand.

His victim, who is in her late 30s and from Tyneside, says she now fears for her safety and has called for tougher sentences to prevent women suffering the same ordeal she continues to go through.

She said: “I have been in fear of my life. Something needs to change.”

Her relationship with Hall, a Greggs Bakery worker from Newbiggin Hall, Newcastle, started in 2021 when they met at work and became close, enjoying walks together and going out for meals.

She was not suspicious when he suggested they keep their relationship a secret from colleagues, as it was “something just for them”.

However, she was shattered when a colleague asked if she knew her new boyfriend was married.

She ended the affair, but Hall tried to change her mind claiming he and his wife were more like “brother and sister” than a married couple.

After several months of tolerating him moving between her flat and his marital home, the woman ended the relationship for good.

But that provoked Hall to launch an ongoing campaign of stalking that led to her

quitting her job and living in a women’s refuge in a desperate bid to escape him.

The woman told how the trip to Helvellyn in September last year was the most terrifying experience he had subjected her to.

She said: “It was quite a foggy day and as we were coming up this steep ridge I looked up and straight away I just froze in fear and I said to my friend, ‘it’s him’.

“I grabbed her in fear and I didn’t know what to do. My legs went like jelly, I was clinging to her and I couldn’t breathe. I was saying, ‘he’s here, he’s here.’

“He then disappeared, he walked down and went away the way that he had come from. I walked further and all of a sudden realised he was behind us.

“He had waited somewhere, just waiting for us to go past so that he could get behind us and then he followed us for seven hours.”

Hall again got ahead of the group and when they reached the car park at the foot of the mountain he was there sitting on the open boot of his car, waiting for them.

The victim and her friends left Helvellyn and set off through the Lake District, with Hall in pursuit of the vehicle she was in.

She added: “He ended up catching up to us and I pulled into a garage. I didn’t indicate, I was driving at 60mph and I left it until the very last second and pulled into a garage forecourt.

“I waited before carrying on with my journey but I ran into a line of traffic and saw there was a car driving slowly at the front.

The car pulled into a layby and as I went past I realised it was him and he began following me again, this time all the way to Northumberland.”

The terrified victim dialled 999 and police said they were heading straight out to

arrest him – which they did.

The woman added: “This was probably the 10th or 11th time he had been arrested and he

was finally remanded in custody.”

After four weeks in custody awaiting a hearing, Hall admitted stalking but escaped with a community order and restraining order at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court.

As part of the order he was electronically tagged but he managed to rip it off and sent the victim a picture of it in his hand.

The court order did not deter Hall and he was arrested again earlier this year for further stalking offences and remanded in custody.

Last month he appeared again before Newcastle Magistrates where a district judge heard he had bombarded his victim with calls from withheld numbers and sent social media messages to her after watching her TikTok posts.

Hall pleaded guilty to stalking without causing fear of violence and was sentenced to five and a half months in prison – only to be released two days later on licence because of the time he had spent on

remand.

The woman said: “I was gutted when probation rang to tell me he’d been released. I have feared for my life on numerous occasions and would think ‘is this the day he is going to do something?’

“He would knock on my door for half an hour to 45 minutes, shouting through my letter box and for the first few months I ignored it – but then he would ring and ring and ring and started pleading with me.

“He had me at rock bottom, I left my job because of him and I was miserable, I went home in tears every day for months.

“I would wake up to hundreds of missed calls, just message after message and eventually he would be sitting outside my house. There was one night at about 2 o’clock in the morning when my buzzer went and then he started throwing stones at my window.

“I didn’t want to have to contact the police but it got worse, he started following me, knowing I would be driving down certain streets at certain times and he would be sitting waiting in his car.

“Something needs to be changed when it comes to this kind of behaviour. AllI want is some peace.”

Minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, Jess Phillips, said her thoughts were with the victim and “all those affected by this deeply distressing case”.

She said: “Stalking is a terrifying and insidious crime that robs victims of their freedom and safety.

“That’s why we are taking decisive action to protect victims and ensure perpetrators face real and lasting consequences.”

Ms Phillips also said that there were plans to strengthen Protection Orders and stalking legislation was being reviewed so the police could “crack down on dangerous perpetrators and more victims get the support they deserve.”

She said: “These measures are part of our ambitious mission to halve violence

against women and girls in a decade.”