A STALKER with a "sinister obsession" for a former neighbour asked police after his arrest: "Stalking . . . ? It's not as if I've raped her - yet."

Andrew Bradley posted letters through the woman's door even after she moved house four times to escape him, and made a friend request on Facebook.

He also painted messages on her wheelie bin, and ignored police warnings about contacting the blonde, who lived on the same estate in Middlesbrough.

After being freed from a spell in jail on remand for harassment, Bradley, 32, went straight to the woman's new home and posted a note saying only "BOO".

The letters had been cut from a newspaper and the message was similar to ones he had sent when his unhealthy infatuation started more than five years ago.

Teesside Crown Court heard how all of his previous convictions centre on the same woman, and Bradley was slapped with a protection from harassment order.

The order - made in November 2011 - was more than two years after he was first in trouble for bothering the woman, said prosecutor Sarah Mallett yesterday.

Miss Mallett said: "Since 2008, the defendant has harassed her and made a thorough and almost sinister nuisance of himself, and made her life extremely difficult."

She described Bradley as having an "unhealthy obsession" and added: "The conduct has included sending gifts, flowers and cards and painting words on a bin.

"The complainant's impact statement sets out significant disruption and distress caused by this defendant's behaviour. She wants him not to contact her.

"In the statement, the complainant has the view that she doesn't want to see him in custody," Miss Mallett told Judge Peter Bowers. "She wants him to get help."

Bradley, of Collin Avenue, Middlesbrough, was sent to a secure hospital indefinitely after he admitted stalking and twice breaching a restraining order.

Judge Bowers told him: "Your attitude towards [the victim] had caused a lot of problems for her. She has moved house a number of times to try to avoid your attention."

Psychiatrist Helen Pearce told the court that Bradley needed treatment at a specialist hospital if he was ever to be well enough to be released safely.

Dr Pearce said he has recently been diagnosed with adult autism, with some psychotic symptoms, and has trouble telling what is real from what is imagined.

"A restriction order will protect the public and also Mr Bradley's interests," said the doctor, from Roseberry Park Hospital in Middlesbrough.

"If he does not receive the right treatment, the difficulties he has will not be tackled and the risks he has presented for a significant time will not be reduced."