Concern over ‘smirking man’ following women
REPORTS OF INCIDENTS AROUND SPRING BANK AREA OF HULL
A SMIRKING man “with dead eyes” has reportedly been following women around the Spring Bank area of Hull.
Two women have posted reports of incidents with the man around Spring Bank and Spring Bank West.
In one social media post, one of the women said the man had been following her since November of last year – harassing her in Chanterlands Avenue and Spring Bank West.
The concerned woman, who lives in Spring Bank West, saidthe man has learned her routine and has persisted in asking her to “trust” him, despite continually telling him she was not interested.
Another woman described how he stared at her “in a really eerie, suggestive fashion”.
“He knows my routine, what time I leave and what time I return from my daily walk with my dog,” the first woman posted to Facebook. “On two occasions he has waited 45 minutes for me to return on the same route.
“He lives in Spring Bank West. The police have been informed.”
She added: “So stressed with this. I should be able to walk my dog on my lunch break. He knows I run, what time I go out, what time I return, so clearly he watches me.”
Feeling at a loss with the situation, the woman said the police have recommended she change her routine but the woman insists she should “be allowed to feel safe in my own home”.
After seeing a photograph of the man on social media, another woman came forward to share her experience with a similarlooking man on the same evening, Tuesday, February 16.
She said: “At around 6.15pm I was walking down Spring Bank and started to get that feeling of a presence walking behind me and I could hear someone trailing their feet, so I looked back to see who it was and there was a man walking only a couple metres behind.
“I put my head down and quickened my pace and walked the whole length of Spring Bank with him following right behind me.
“When I got down to the end of Spring Bank to turn onto Ferensway, I stopped to see if the man would also stop, to either confirm or deny my paranoia and see if he was actually following me or not.
“I started to panic then when he also stopped. I walked back a few steps and turned to face the guy, but he was already staring at me so out of pure fear I asked him whether or not I could help him.
“Then he smirked at me in a really eerie, suggestive fashion and said ‘yeah you can help me’ and walked towards me.
“I took a few steps back and realising that there was no one else really about I told him that he needed to back off.
“He got really quite defensive and started walking towards me some more so I crossed the road and walked down Prospect Street and he didn’t follow me any further.
“The initial encounter left me feeling a bit shocked – like I couldn’t believe what had just happened.
“On my way home we crossed paths again on Spring Bank and when I walked past him he matched my pace and stared at me with dead eyes.
“I stared back towards him but it didn’t deter him any, which really creeped me out and he continued to walk down the street right beside me, staring right at me for about 200 metres.
“Thankfully there were many more people around so I just sped up, crossed the street and he eventually backed off by the time I got to Princes Avenue.”