A 23‑year‑old Turkish asylum seeker was jailed for six months after admitting a prolonged campaign of stalking that culminated in threats to kill a woman and her family and a declared intent to commit a murder‑suicide.
Samet Arik admitted one count of stalking involving serious alarm and distress at Wood Green Crown Court. Recorder Jenni Dempster KC said the offending caused the victim "very serious distress" and was "too serious to consider suspending" the sentence. Arik was also ordered to observe a 10‑year restraining order barring contact with the victim and her parents.
Prosecutors told the court the victim, identified in court papers as Dilan Turkman, first noticed Arik watching towards her home from across the road in March 2022. There was limited contact until March 2023, when the victim's vehicle was broken into. The court heard Arik assisted in chasing the suspects but did not speak to the victim at that time. Shortly afterwards he moved into the same block of flats as the victim and she began to see him frequently, sometimes walking near her building in the early hours of the morning.
Prosecutor Rhys Allen said the harassment escalated in July 2024 when the victim ordered food from a restaurant where Arik worked. She later received messages from a number attributed to Arik saying: "you ruined my life" and "I wasn't expecting this from you." When the victim called back, the court heard Arik told her he was in love with her, had moved to her block because of her and had been watching her for three years. He also said he had obtained her phone number from the restaurant's computer, the court was told.
The victim told Arik she had a boyfriend and ended the call; she later said members of her community confronted Arik and he was asked to leave his flat. Despite a promise not to contact her, Arik approached the victim while she sat in her car two weeks later, stood within a metre of the vehicle and told her she had "embarrassed" him and that she would be "mine." The court heard the victim began receiving roughly 20 calls a day from withheld numbers and on one occasion found Arik standing on a wall opposite her home at about 4 a.m.
The matter came to a head on September 4, 2024, while the victim was away in Turkey. Her father told her a man was at the front door; when he opened it, Arik allegedly threatened to kill the victim and her family and to kill himself in an effective murder‑suicide if the police were called. Neighbours intervened and the defendant left only after others told him to go away, the prosecutor said.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Turkman said Arik's behaviour had left her fearing for her life. "It scared me that Samet believes in his heart that I love him when I cannot think of a plausible reason why," she said, adding she feared she could be stabbed for refusing to reciprocate his feelings. The court was told she had made practical changes to her life, including buying a new car the defendant would not recognise, and that she remained afraid to go out in her area.
Defence counsel Michael Shilliday told the court Arik had been admitted to Edgware Community Hospital on September 7, 2024, and diagnosed with a psychotic disorder attributed largely to multiple substance misuse, including cannabis. Shilliday said the diagnosis was "cannabis‑induced psychosis" and that Arik did not currently hold ongoing delusional beliefs that he and the victim were in love. The lawyer also confirmed Arik had claimed asylum from Turkey on grounds of fear of ill treatment on conscription and as a Kurdish individual and did not have leave to remain in the U.K.
Recorder Dempster noted Arik had been in custody since March 2024 and told him he must serve more than half of the term in prison. She warned him that breaching the 10‑year restraining order — which bars him from contacting or approaching the victim or either parent — would be a criminal offence punishable by up to five years in prison. Arik, who was accompanied by a Turkish interpreter in court, nodded when the conditions were explained to him.
Arik also admitted failing to attend court. The judge said matters related to his immigration status were for other authorities to decide rather than the criminal court. The case was heard at Wood Green Crown Court, which imposed the immediate custodial sentence after finding the stalking conduct and the death threats caused significant alarm and distress to the victim.
The sentence and restraining order aim to protect the victim while immigration or other civil processes proceed independently of the criminal prosecution.