A 'neighbour from hell' fondled an elderly widow's bras and performed naked sex acts in his window after bombarding her with sleazy texts. Robert May, 73, was caught on camera sneaking into Margaret Day's garden after subjecting her to a decade of terror.
Margaret, 79, says May made her life a misery by sending demands to see her breasts and masturbating in full view of her home. Mobile phone and doorbell footage captured the pensioner in the act at a housing complex in Chaddesley Corbett, Worcestershire.
Footage passed to police
The footage was passed on to police, and May pleaded guilty to an act of outraging public decency at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court earlier this month. Margaret's daughter Sue Mason-Day, 54, said: "It has been 11 years of hell for my mum."
Sue, who has waived her right to anonymity alongside her mum, said: "It's been going on for 11 years now. It started with text messages when my dad Brian was still alive. My mum had asked Rob to look after their birds when they went on holiday, and she received a message in response saying yes but only if he could look at her breasts."
Messages and escalation
The message from May read: "When Brian goes to the pub, let me know I'm coming over to see your breasts". He then added: "I do things for you, so you should let me see your breasts." Margaret asked him if it was a joke, but May persisted despite being repeatedly asked to stop. Margaret eventually told husband Brian, who confronted May and threatened him with the police.
After Brian died in December 2014, May asked to attend the funeral, which the family refused. He continued to message Margaret, including one that read: "I would have put the bin out, but you know what I want to see." Margaret later received Valentine's cards from an unknown sender, which made her feel "uneasy". She also claimed to have seen May at her kitchen window around 5.30am, which frightened her.
Caught on camera
The family installed a Ring doorbell in 2022, which captured May in the act. Sue added: "I had this funny feeling that something wasn't right. My mum is like clockwork with her routine, and I felt Rob knew that. She told me he was constantly watching her. I remember looking at the footage and it shows Rob going into her garden and putting his fingers on her bras. He gained access by the rear garden via the closed gate."
"Some of the clothing drying was my mum's underwear including two bras. Once he got to the clothing he has then reached out with his left arm and touched both of the bras. He seemed to be rubbing the inside of the cup areas." The incident was reported to police, and Sue said she asked officers to speak to May and give him some words of advice, but his behaviour got worse.
Margaret told Sue she thought he had an inflatable doll in his window. But on closer inspection, she realised he was standing in his window naked looking directly into her kitchen. Sue decided to try to catch him on camera, so hid in the back of her mum's car while Margaret followed her normal routine. Sue added: "At the time my mum went out in the car, we watched Rob remove the net curtains and we started the video recording. It showed him completely naked, masturbating in his flat window. He tried to deny it when we reported it to police, and said he was rubbing in deep heat."
May initially pleaded not guilty to the offence but later changed his plea on September 15. He will be sentenced on October 19.
