Wigan man, 29, threatened to behead mobile hairdressers

A judge heard that Wigan man Raymond Orok randomly selected his victims from the Yellow Pages and had them living in fear after they received the inexplicable death threats on their mobiles.

No fewer than seven women were terrorised in this way last autumn, the hearing at Bolton Crown Court was told.

The 29-year-old, of Stone Cross Lane North in Lowton, pleaded guilty seven offences under the Malicious Communications Act in that he sent an electronic communication which was indecent or grossly offensive and aimed to cause distress or anxiety to the recipient.

Orok admitted that he had looked up mobile hairdressers in the business directory and sent them threatening messages, saying that he would kill them and their families in various ways such as petrol bombing their homes or beheading them.

The prosecution said that only the defendant could say what his motives had been.

There was no evidence to suggest that the incidents were terrorist-related.

The judge gave him an 18-month community order, mental health treatment for nine months, a programme requirement of 25 days and a two-year criminal behaviour order.