Britain’s most dangerous stalker could be back on streets after 20 years in jail

Richard Jan, 55, was handed a life sentence after a relentless campaign of abuse during which he fire-bombed the home of a councillor and torched a social worker’s car.

He made 4,500 crank calls, sent more than 200 threatening letters, slashed car tyres and smashed windows.

The failed biochemist, who has a genius-level IQ of 150 ,was handed a life sentence

in 2004, when cops dubbed him “Britain’s worst stalker”. His record is far worse than than fictional character Martha from Netflix smash hit Baby Reindeer, which recently put the spotlight on stalking.

Jan was found guilty of targeting more than 200 victims during a seven-year campaign of “violence and terror” against health officials, solicitors and others he branded part of a “grand coalition” trying to section him. Now he will soon be assessed by Parole chiefs who may free him. They will examine progress he has made in prison and relationships he has formed.

A source said: “He will be doing everything he can to prove he is safe to be released. But no doubt it is a terrifying prospect for his victims and those impacted by him. His offending makes Baby Reindeer look somewhat light and tame.”

Jan’s campaign of terror began shortly after the son of an Iranian eye surgeon lost his job in the laboratory of the Queen Charlotte Hospital in Hammersmith in 1996.

He moved back home with his parents but they called in a local councillor, Shauna Bailey, after he began exhibiting controlling and concerning behaviour. During the home visit, he became abusive and was arrested.

Psychiatrists judged him mentally ill but not dangerous, and because he refused treatment voluntarily he could not be sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

Jan was bound over by magistrates and bailed, but returned to the family home and started smashing windows.

He was bound over again and he theorised there was a plot to destroy him, promising to start “World War Three” against professionals he branded “the fascist horde”.

Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court was told that Jan was linked to 4,500 crank calls, a figure cops described as “only the tip of the iceberg”.

Some of the victims had to change their jobs and leave home, in some cases altering their identity. A judge described Jan as being “astonishingly adept” at tracing people’s addresses and home phone numbers.

Jan was convicted of two counts of arson with intent to endanger life and one of causing a public nuisance between November 1996 and February 2003 - a charge police said took in all other aspects of his campaign.

After an eight-week trial, which heard from 108 witnesses, Judge Henry Blacksell adjourned sentence for a month for a psychiatric report but told Jan, who lived in Streatham and Paddington, London, that he faced a life sentence in the absence of a medical recommendation allowing for his indefinite detention under the Act.

Judge Henry Blacksell, QC, described Jan, who developed a “chilling obsession” with his victims, as “mentally unstable”. He added: “The absence of a medical recommendation allowing me to detain you indefinitely under the Mental Health Act will mean inevitable life imprisonment.”

Detective Chief Inspector David Poole, who led the inquiry, said after the case: “There has never been a case like this before.

“It is fair to say he is undoubtedly Britain’s worst stalker, a very dangerous individual whose seven-year campaign of terror has ruined lives.”

Praising the courage of those who gave evidence, he explained it had been necessary to take more than 1,000 statements from 497 people in order to get a detailed overview of what Jan had done.

His most recent parole bid was turned down in 2021.