By Editor,Freya Barnes

Copyright dailymail

A Turkish asylum seeker who threatened to kill a woman and her family in a ‘murder suicide’ during a terrifying stalking campaign has been jailed for six months.

Samet Arik, 23, moved into the same block of flats as his victim, told her he was in love with her and had been spying on her for three years.

Dilan Turkman became aware of him staring towards her home from across the road in March 2022.

Arik smoked so much cannabis he was sectioned in September 2024 suffering from ‘cannabis-induced psychosis’.

Restaurant worker Arik admitted stalking involving serious alarm and distress at Wood Green Crown Court.

Prosecutor Rhys Allen said: ‘The offending started in approximately March 2022.

‘It was this point Ms Turkman saw the defendant sitting opposite her house – she saw the defendant staring at her house and when she left she asked what he was doing.

‘He replied to her saying that he is “working nearby” and that he is just effectively relaxing.

‘After that, there wasn’t much contact until March 2023 when the victim had her vehicle broken into and had items stolen.

‘During this she chased the suspects down and was assisted by the defendant but they did not exchange words at any point.

‘Shortly after this the defendant moved into the same block of flats the victim lived at.

‘She saw him nearly every day after that, and would see him walking up and down at four in the morning at times, but there was never any real interaction between them.’

Mr Allen said during July 2024 the victim ordered some food from a restaurant on Fore Street, Edmonton.

‘A few days after ordering the food she received a message saying “you ruined my life” from a mobile number later attributed to the defendant.’

Another message from the number said: ‘You ruined my life, I wasn’t expecting this from you.’

A distressed Ms Turkman called the number and when the defendant answered the phone he ‘informed her he was in love with her and that he’d moved to the block of flats because of her’.

She was told by the defendant he had been watching her for three years and he had got her phone number from the computer at the restaurant she ordered food from, Mr Allen told the court.

The prosecutor confirmed that Arik in fact worked at the restaurant in question.

He continued: ‘The victim told him she had a boyfriend and did not know how the defendant could have fallen in love with her and hung up the phone.

‘She got in contact with friends to explain the situation as she felt at that moment there is nothing the police could do.

‘Word spread amongst her community and the defendant was effectively kicked out of his flat at Bradwell Mews.’

Arik promised not to contact her again, but approached the victim as she was sat in her car just two weeks later.

‘On this occasion she was smoking a cigarette and was in the drivers’ seat.

‘She then saw in the drivers’ side-mirror a shadowy figure behind her, it was approximately 11pm to midnight.

‘She then said “I can see you, come out”, in Turkish – the defendant then came out behind the vehicle and said, “Do you like what you have done? You have embarrassed me to everyone”.

‘The defendant got less than a meter from the car and the victim, out of fear, rolled up the car window.’

Mr Allen told the court that Arik said to the woman: ‘I’ll never harm you, I’m in love with you, you will be mine.

‘I’ve been watching you, I know you don’t have a boyfriend, do you know that are you going to be mine?’

Ms Turkman then received ‘approximately 20 calls a day’ from withheld numbers.

‘After that the victim drove home at four in the morning and saw the defendant standing on a wall directly opposite her house.’

The prosecutor added: ‘The matter really came to a head on September 4, 2024, when the victim was away in Turkey and received a call from her father.

‘Her father said “do you know who’s turned up to the front door”, and he said “that Samet guy”.

‘She told her father to call the police – when he was at the door he threatened to kill her family, herself, followed by himself in an effective murder-suicide.

‘The defendant did not leave until neighbours came out of the property telling him to go away, all of them hearing these threats.’

In a victim impact statement read out to court, Ms Turkman said: ‘It scared me that Samet believes in his heart that I love him when I cannot think of a plausible reason why.

‘Samet scares me and he says he has been watching me for three years, without hesitation or thinking this is wrong.

‘I am scared he is going to kill me because in Turkey it happens quite often by obsessed men.

‘I am scared to be around my area in case Samet sees me and tries to stab me through my car window for not wanting to reciprocate his love.’

The court heard that Ms Turkman had to ‘change the way she lived’ and was forced to buy a a new car the defendant did not recognise.

Michael Shilliday, defending Arik, disputed whether the victim had made ‘considerable changes to lifestyle’.

‘That means she moves houses, moves towns, moves country – I don’t mean this to sound flippant, it isn’t flippant, but not that she can’t smoke in her car at night.’

Mr Shilliday said Arik was admitted to the Edgware Community Hospital on September 7, 2024, and diagnosed with a ‘psychotic disorder’ due to ‘multiple substance misuses’.

‘He accepts this happened largely because of cannabis misuse’, he added, later clarifying the underlying cause as ‘cannabis induced psychosis’.

‘He describes no ongoing beliefs that he and the victim are in love or that he wishes to marry her’, Mr Shilliday said.

He said Arik did not have leave to remain status in the UK but had ‘claimed asylum from Turkey on the twin basis of fear of ill treatment on conscription and as a Kurdish individual’.

The judge, Ms Recorder Jenni Dempster KC said he caused ‘very serious distress to the victim.

‘You threatened to kill her and her family – what more distress could be caused than that?

‘This is also a case where the victim’s had to make considerable changes to her lifestyle because of you, she’d had to sell her car and replace it with one that you won’t recognise.

‘She’s scared even now, as of the last victim impact statement, to go out in her area.’

She handed Arik a term of six months immediate imprisonment, considering the offending ‘too serious to consider suspending that sentence.’

The judge will serve ‘more than half’ of his sentence in prison but noted that he had been in custody since March 2024.

‘As to immigration status, this is a matter for others, not for this court’, she told him.

Arik was also made subject to a restraining order for a period of ten years barring him from contacting or being in the vicinity of Ms Turkman or either of her parents.

‘If you try to contact any of these three people in the next ten years, or if you go to any building where you know or think they may be, you will be committing a criminal offence and you will breach this restraining order.

‘The punishment of a breach of a restraining order is a sentence of up to five years imprisonment, so it is a serious matter.

‘Do you understand, Mr Arik, the two conditions of prohibition in the restraining order?’

Looking down at the floor and nodding, Arik, accompanied by a Turkish interpreter, replied: ‘Yes, yes’.

Arik, of Haringey, admitted stalking involving serious alarm and distress and failing to attend court.