`Stalker' guilty of assault

A stalker convicted of assaulting a young woman was warned by a judge that he faced a "lengthy custodial sentence". The conviction of Italian Gaetano Constanza, 31, from Luton, for assault was a landmark in moves to make stalking a crime because he had never touched his victim.

He was found guilty after a jury at Luton Crown Court heard he had "destroyed" the life of computer operator Louise Wilson, 23, for two years with an obsessive campaign of more than 800 letters, phone calls and paint-daubing. He had denied the single charge of assault causing actual bodily harm between 1993 and last year.