Stalker who Googled victim's name 40,000 times jailed for three years

Elliot Fogel was jailed for three years and six months after a persistent campaign of harassment against Claire Waxman

Claire Waxman speaking on BBC about her ordeal (BBC, via YouTube)

A stalker who Googled his victim’s name 40,000 times in a year and forced her to move five times in an obsessive 12-year campaign has been jailed for three years.

Elliot Fogel, 40, was jailed on Tuesday for three years and six months after breaching a restraining order first imposed in 2005 to protect 38-year-old Claire Waxman.

It is the third time Fogel, dubbed the “stalker who wouldn’t stop stalking” in a previous trial, has been jailed for his persistent harassment of Ms Waxman.

He has been prosecuted five times for stalking his victim and received five jail sentences, in addition to a suspended sentence and a community order.

The conviction at Harrow Crown Court comes after he was found guilty of breaching the order when he issued a libel claim against Ms Waxman. He was also convicted of storing information about her.

Fogel claimed that Ms Waxman was defaming him in interviews – a charge quashed by police who said that he only pursued the civil action as a means of harassing her.

Ms Waxman, a leading anti-stalking campaigner who runs the Voice 4 Victims organisation, labelled the victory “important” for all stalking victims, claiming that “the pattern of stalking is finally being recognised and understood and taken seriously.”

The mother-of-two added: "It also gives a message to stalkers that they do not have an absolute right to access the civil courts to bring malicious and vexatious complaints against their victims."