WHEN Margaret Day first met her new neighbour Robert May she welcomed him into her home – she felt sorry for him as he seemed to have no company apart from his little black dog.
But what started as an act of kindness towards a lonely friend she says became an 11-year long ordeal of being tormented by a which left her feeling too unsafe to leave her own bungalow.
Gran-of-two Margaret has now told how she was subjected to years of unwanted sexual messages from May asking things like “show me your breasts” until the disturbing behaviour escalated to him exposing himself in his flat window.
Mobile phone and Ring doorbell footage captured the creepy pensioner also groping her bras on the washing line and masturbating in full view at a housing complex in Chaddesley Corbett, Worcs.
The footage was passed to police and earlier this month May pleaded guilty to an act of outraging public decency at Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court.
He will be sentenced on October 19.
Margaret, 79, has now told how she and her late husband Brian first befriended May more than a decade ago in 2010.
They invited him for meals, helping him when he was struggling and even trusting him with a key to their house when they were away.
The retired carer said: “I never asked for or wanted any of this attention and he was told to stop on many occasions.
“My late husband Brian and I made friends with Rob and we felt a little sorry for him.
“He was on his own and just seemed to only have a black dog in his life at the time.
“Brian and Rob would read the racing papers on a Saturday morning and choose horses for the day and have a little bet.
“Sometimes, if I had cooked too much food especially on a Sunday I would give him a nice home cooked dinner.
“I even did this at Christmas.
“He worked doing garden maintenance at several properties and did some work on my daughter’s garden.”
Margaret, who is also a mum-of-two, said the first worrying incident happened in 2013 when her husband Brian was still alive.
She said: “One evening Brian had left our bungalow and walked over to the pub.
“Out of the blue he sent me a message saying, ‘When Brian goes to the pub, let me know, I’m coming over to see your breasts.’ I was completely shocked.
“I replied ‘don’t be stupid where is all this coming from’.
“He replied ‘I do things for you, you should let me see your breasts.’
“A few days later I plucked up the courage to text and asked Rob if he could look after the birds as we were going to for the weekend.
“Rob replied with “Yeah if you show me your breasts” – I was really shocked again.
“I felt extremely uncomfortable and uneasy.”
Margaret told her daughter Sue Mason-Day, 54, about the messages but kept the texts from her husband at first.
She added: “I didn’t want to tell Brian at first because he had serious heart problems and I was worried about the impact it would have on his health.
“In the end I felt so upset and stressed, I decided I would tell Brian and show him the messages on my phone.”
Retired security guard Brian confronted May about the messages and warned he would be reported to the police if he continued.
Margaret added: “From that day the friendship was over for everyone.”
But Margaret said the unwanted attention did not stop even after Brian’s death from heart failure aged 70 in 2014.
She added: “As a new widow I was trying to cope with everything on my own.
“Then I received a message saying, ‘I would have put the bin out, but you know what I want to see.’
“I couldn’t believe it.”
Over the following years, Margaret claims she frequently felt watched and said May would alter his his walking route depending on whether neighbours were present and would regularly pass her bungalow while looking through the patio doors.
She said: “I felt as though I was being watched.
“If I was alone, he would walk past and stare into my lounge.
“It was unnerving and made me uncomfortable in my own home.”
On one occasion, Margaret says her daughter challenged him after seeing him apparently looking through the windows.
“She opened the door and shouted, ‘Rob, is there a problem?’ and he quickly walked away,” Margaret recalled.
The widow says concerns about her safety eventually prompted her family to install security cameras at the property.
In July 2022, footage captured May entering her garden without permission while she was out.
The footage showed him approaching a washing line where underwear, including bras, had been left to dry.
She added: “He appeared focused on the bras and touched them before leaving.
“I was deeply upset. It left me feeling nervous about living alone.”
In July last year, Margaret decided enough was enough after spotting him standing naked in the window.
She said: “I thought Rob had got a doll in his window at first but then I realised he was naked.
“I was making a cup of tea and it frightened me because he could see into the kitchen.
“My daughter decided we would try and get it on camera.
“I genuinely felt as though I was being .
“Rob has had plenty of opportunities to leave me alone but he hasn’t and it made me feel extremely uncomfortable.”
Daughter Sue said she decided to turn detective after May’s behaviour became more suspicious and worrying around about 2022.
Sue, from Kidderminster, added: “I had this funny feeling that something wasn’t right.
“With the text messages I just told Rob my mum had a new number – but it was actually my number I gave him so I was able to see the texts and stopped the communication.
“But when he started looking into her home and was constantly watching her, that is why we installed the Ring camera.
“We reported the bra incident to the police and officers spoke to Rob to give him words of advice.
“But after she reported him standing naked in the window, we decided we would try and get that on camera as evidence too.”
To gather evidence, Sue and her husband hid in the back of her mother’s car while Margaret followed her usual routine.
She 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.
Sue said: “It has been 11 years of hell for my mum.
“People in the village have turned against her as she’s been accused of being out to get Rob.
“I feel it is time that people knew the truth.”
