Top cop awarded for putting Brighton stalker behind bars

Ameer Tahir, 42, of King's Road in Brighton, was sentenced to 13 years in jail after committing a year-long campaign of misogynistic abuse.

The man had already been put on the sex offenders' register but continued to terrorize at least 59 women with anonymous phone calls threatening violent sexual attacks.

Investigator Lucia Calandriello receiving an award (Image: Sussex Police)

Many of the victims have suffered 'significant, life-changing trauma' from the ordeal, said Brighton and Hove Police.

Investigator Lucia Calandriello was able to amass so much evidence that Tahir pleaded guilty to all the offences.

She personally updated each of the 59 victims.

At the Brighton and Hove’s Divisional Awards, Lucia was described as 'a real credit to Sussex Police'.

Who is Ameer Tahir?

Before his arrest, Tahir, of King's Road in Brighton, ignored orders to stop, even when police could hear his sick calls.

At least two women passed their phone to officers after calling police during a call from Tahir.

They spoke to him, identified themselves as police and ordered him to stop making calls.

Ameer Tahir was jailed after an investigation by Lucia Calandriello (Image: Sussex News and Pictures)

As soon as police left, the calls started again, a court heard.

Victims were terrified by Tahir who knew their names, where they lived and what they looked like.

The rep, who supplied pubs around South East London and Brighton with craft beer used his contacts to target women.

Prosecutor Ryan Richter told the court the phone calls were a year long campaign of exceptional misogynistic abuse directed at 59 different women between November 2021 and 2022.

Stalker Tahir put his victims in fear of violence, Mr Richter said.

“This was a targeted campaign directed against women.

“Incessantly calling, making repeated threats to commit violent sexual offences against them.”

He described Tahir as utterly uncaring to the psychological torment he caused.

His conduct escalated over time, the court heard.

He used computer equipment to disguise his voice and hid his number.

The calls only ended when he was arrested and kept in custody in December 2022.

His first victim started receiving calls on November 4, 2021, ringing her 60 times.

She told police she feared being attacked.

Another woman said she memorised which houses on her street had doorbell cameras in case she was attacked walking home.

Another woman was targeted by Tahir who was a customer at her sandwich shop.

“There was a man out there who wanted to say violent sexual things to me and didn’t care that I’d called police,” one woman told police.

Tahir admitted racially aggravated stalking against a Lithuanian woman.

He made extreme violent sexual threats against her and her family.

“He said he knew where I lived and had cameras in my flat and had videos of me.

“The horrific sexual things really scared me,” the woman said.

She received 150 calls in one day.

Tahir threatened to upload video of the woman to internet pornography site Pornhub.

The threats had made her suicidal, the woman said.

Another woman who received graphic threats of sexual violence said the calls resumed after police left.

“I was disgusted by the awful things he was saying to me.

“It really got inside of me and my head,” she said.

Tahir denied being a follower of Incel ideology.

Tayo Adebayo, defending Tahir, said he had only ever had two relationships with women.

His last girlfriend died by suicide and her family had blamed him.

Her death sent him into a spiral of depression, Mr Adebayo said.

He drank heavily and started taking cocaine and smoking cannabis.

“The trigger for his behaviour appears to be a frustration that he wasn’t able to form relationships with women, frustration and sexual inadequacies on his part,” Mr Adebayo said.

Tahir worked as a representative after studying for a diploma in brewing beer.

Tahir, from Brighton, sat emotionless, staring straight ahead throughout the sentencing hearing.

You can read more about the case here.