Disabled woman terrorised by walkie talkie pervert

The 31-year-old is now too afraid to leave her home alone after the man told her he knows who she is and has been watching her.

In one chilling tirade he even threatened to RAPE her.

The woman bravely spoke out to warn other walkie-talker users this week but the Observer has taken the decision not to reveal her identity.

She bought the 60 set from Argos nearly three months ago. She explained: "I kept one and gave the other to my next door neighbour. I'm disabled and I live alone and she sometimes does a bit of shopping for me.

"We thought it would be a good idea to have walkie-talkies to stay in touch in case I needed anything urgently or was in trouble. We also thought it would be a bit of fun but it's turned into a nightmare."

The problem began about a month ago when the woman started hearing a muffled third voice when speaking to her neighbour over the radio.

She said: "It started getting clearer and we both realised it was a man and he was talking to us. What he said was obscene, really perverted. I didn't know this could happen with walkie talkies.

"We shrugged it off as a one-off and told him to get lost and retuned to another frequency to speak on. But within minutes he was back and started with the obscenities again. No matter how many times we changed frequency he found us again."

The interruptions have become more and more frequent and disturbing. She explained: "It has started happening twice a week and is now really scaring me.

"The language is very sexually explicit. One day he came on and he was so clear he could have been yards away. He said, 'I can see you and I'm going to rape you'.

A police spokeswoman said: "Obviously we are sympathetic to what has been happening and we are looking into it. We treat cases of harassment very seriously and this must have been a frightening experience.

"The equipment can be obtained very easily and unfortunately if it gets into the wrong hands and people use it for sinister purposes it is difficult to trace.

"It is quite easy to scan into frequencies being used by other people, even with equipment like baby monitors. We are urging the victim to keep records of times and dates and what is said.

"It might be useful if she can record the voice.

"We must also stress that there are safer alternative means of communication she could use like a Lifeline pendant, which are available in Rother, or a cordless of mobile telephone."