Stalker abducted former lover's cockapoo in campaign of hate

NEWS AND OPINION: A classic story of an embittered man who harassed a pretty woman and abducted her attractive dog.

Hannah Rasekh with her cockapoo and the man, Bashar Ayoub, who harassed and threatened her. Hands up, this is a Sun montage. If The Sun objects, please tell me in a comment.

The basic story is pretty commonplace and rather typical but with a twist as a dog was involved. Sorry no cat stories today 😢😎.

Hannah Rasekh was born in the UK and has a Palestinian heritage. She is an influencer on social media and has a boutique in Al Amman, Jordan. 

She met Bashar Ayoub in Dubai in 2017. Bashar Ayoub is a property developer with some wealth, and he lives in a £2 million flat in a posh part of London (Belgravia). Hannah Rasekh lives in South Kensington, West London.

She decided to split up from Bashar Ayoub claiming that he had "emotionally and psychologically" abused her. Bashar Ayoub was obviously enraged, and he embarked on a campaign of harassment and nasty threats. 

I set out some of those threats below but before I do so I will bring into the story Rasekh's cockapoo, Ted, who was abducted by Ayoub. 

He turned up at her home while she was not there, but her parents were as they were housesitting and said that he was a friend who had offered to walk her dog. He took the dog and did not return him. He therefore abducted Ted. We are told that he returned the dog several weeks later.

He couldn't stop himself harassing her because even after Hannah Rasekh had contacted the police and the police were actually inside her home, Ayoub called her 85 times. The police warned Ayoub not to contact her but within hours he started his campaign again and phoned Rasekh 64 times together with sending her abusive messages.

In one he said: "Die you thief you thieving whore, I pray you die, I pray you die every day, you whore."

He also said in another text: "I'll rip you apart, all of you, your whole family you c****. He sent 35 emails to her between January 4 and January 5 in 2022 in which he called her a "bitch".

His behaviour inevitably led him to the criminal courts where he admitted one charge of stalking with fear of harm and violence between April 4 and September 5.

He was granted conditional bail. The condition is that he does not contact Hannah Rasekh directly or indirectly. 

He must wear a GPS tag to ensure that he does not go near her home. He will be sentenced at Westminster magistrates' Court on December 8. The max he can get is 10 years in jail.

My thanks to The Times newspaper.