THE NIGHT STALKER COPYCAT’S RAMPAGE OF TERROR
‘Danger to women’ gets 12-year jail sentence
Chelmsford crown court heard that in one case the graffiti he wrote said: “The Stalking Ransacker... 35th burglary... police suck... media attention.”
Prosecutors say he carefully planned crimes, leaving little forensic evidence.
But detectives linked the culprit to an unsolved burglary in 2014, when derisory comments about police were written on walls. Officers discovered the laptop stolen in this raid had been re-registered by a man who bought it from Ashton.
A raid on the suspect’s home last September revealed a balaclava and cable ties. He had searched online for terms such as “the original Night Stalker”.
Ashton pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated burglary and six of burglary.
A further six burglaries were left to lie on file. Richard Conley, defending, said: “This is a series of offences more at home in the plot of a bad Hollywood movie than in a courtroom in Essex.
“It may well be that Mr Ashton was seeking some sort of escapism from a life that had not always been kind to him for a number of reasons.”
Aggravated burglary has a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Judges can sentence offenders to between one and 13 years – meaning Ashton’s offences were deemed particularly serious.
As he is deemed “dangerous”, Ashton must serve at least two-thirds of his time before he is eligible for parole and has a four-year extended licence period.
He was made the subject of a restraining order for one victim.
A BURGLAR who carried out terrifying raids in a balaclava after becoming obsessed with a serial killer has been jailed for 12 years.
Conor Ashton, 23, modelled himself on Satanic murderer Richard Ramirez, who was known as the Night Stalker.
All of Ashton’s victims were young women living alone. He would break in when they were asleep.
His crimes became increasingly violent and on two occasions he carried a knife and tied his victim’s wrists and ankles.
Branding him “dangerous”, Judge Christopher Morgan told him yesterday: “This is an escalation that may result in serious sexual or violent offences.”
One woman awoke to find Ashton brandishing the blade in her face. He tied up the other victim after creeping into the room where her baby was also asleep.
Mr Morgan said: “You are a dangerous individual. You replicated, or were trying to replicate, a notorious criminal. You chose a moniker and left evidence at the scene to taunt the police and instil fear in your victims and the community.
“You present a significant risk of physical or psychological harm should you commit these types of offences in the future.”
Ashton, who referred to himself as the Stalking Ransacker, daubed occult pentagram symbols on walls at several crime scenes. The former farm worker raided drawers and laid underwear out on beds.
The man he admired, Ramirez, murdered at least 13 people in California in the 1980s, stealing lipstick from one elderly victim to draw a pentagram on her thigh and bedroom walls.
Ashton began carrying out raids in his hometown of Colchester, Essex, in 2013.
The crimes were initially low-level, involving thefts of laptops. His offences took a far more sinister turn in 2017.
It was on July 10 last year when a 23-year-old woman woke at 3am to find Ashton standing next to her bed brandishing a kitchen knife.
The burglar, wearing a dark balaclava and gloves, ordered the student to hand over her debit card and PIN. He restrained her ankles and hands with cable ties.
Ashton fled through a window and withdrew £500 from a cashpoint after threatening to hurt his victim’s housemate if she screamed.
The woman was so distressed by her ordeal she has now left the UK.
She said: “I thought that I would be traumatised only for a short period of time but I was totally wrong.
“There have been more than a couple of nights in which I only fall asleep after the sun has risen because I think that somebody is going to break in.”
A month later Ashton raided the home of the woman sleeping beside her baby.
The 24-year-old victim was awoken at 4.45am as Ashton stood at the end of her bed holding a knife. He said: “Tell the pigs I had fun on Avon Way [the scene of the previous raid]. I already know my next target. It will be next week.”
Ashton tied her up and fled with a small amount of cash. Graffiti including a pentagram was daubed at the home.
All of the burglaries were in the Colchester area. Many victims were students at the town’s university.
You are dangerous. You tried to replicate a notorious criminal JUDGE CHRISTOPHER MORGAN TO ASHTON