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A man from Greater Manchester has been jailed for a vicious attack on a woman he was obsessed with.
Conrad Lee Sebastian O'Donnell, 29, hounded his victim for around four years, secretly recording videos of her and filming himself performing sexual acts in her home.
The offender was given a nine-and-a-half-year prison sentence following a hearing at Manchester Crown Court. He pleaded guilty to attempted kidnap, committing an offence with the intention of committing a sexual offence, two counts of voyeurism, two counts of public nuisance and making an indecent image at an earlier trial.
O'Donnell befriended his victim around four years ago. They exchanged phone numbers, but he soon became obsessed with her. He pestered the woman to enter a relationship with him, advances she repeatedly spurned.
At around 1.00am on 21 December, the offender gained entry to her flat and attacked her. He forced a rolled up sock into her mouth, and punched her at least four times in the face as she resisted.
He fled the scene, leaving her covered in blood, and called the police to admit carrying out the assault.
Officers attended the address and recovered the sock, along with a set of freshly cut keys to the flat that did not belong to the woman.
O'Donnell's mobile phone was seized and a number of incriminating internet searches were discovered in the handset's browsing history, including 'how to kidnap someone', 'strongest over the counter sedative', 'best way to gag someone', 'how to make a person forget' and 'chlrophenamine'.
Police then searched his home and took possession of his laptop computer and memory sticks. Photographs of personal documents belonging to the woman, pictures of her with her family, and video footage of her recorded by O'Donnell in secret were discovered.
There was also two video clips of O'Donnell performing sexual acts inside her flat that he had filmed himself, as well as an indecent image.
Detective Constable Dave Berry, who led the investigation, said: "What is most important about today's conviction is that it gives the woman O'Donnell terrorised some sense of closure. I can tell you without hesitation that this woman has suffered enormously as a result of O'Donnell's actions and the emotional damage he has inflicted will sadly last a long time.
"I can only hope that seeing him convicted and imprisoned for such a long time will give this woman some feeling of justice as she rebuilds her life.
"O'Donnell was obsessed with this woman but took that obsession to extremes - violently assaulting her in her own home and secretly recording her for his own sexual gratification. The evidence we found was overwhelming and as a result, this man is now behind bars.
"In publicising this case, I also hope that if there are other women who are reading this and who fear they might be in a similar position, that there is help out there and we have specially trained officers who will listen to any concerns you have and do everything in their power to protect you."
