Intruder targets young beautiful sleeping women

By KATE DUBINSKI AND JENNI DUNNING, SUN MEDIA The London Free Press

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The behaviour of a man who sneaks into young women’s homes and watches them sleep could become more dangerous, police fear.

“Our concern is that he’s going to escalate,” said London police Det. Sgt. Henry Pateman, who heads the force’s sexual assault section.

“At this stage, the occurrences themselves are concerning.”

The man has targeted young women living off-campus near the University of Western Ontario and Fanshawe College.

He has increased the frequency of his nighttime intrusions, Pateman said.

Police have made public seven incidents that occurred in the last two months, but are looking at reports from before September.

“I think it’s someone that lives in our community,” Pateman said.

“There are previous incidents in the same general vicinity . . . There was an increase in activity in the last two months.”

Police released information about the man last week because they saw a pattern and wanted to alert the public, Pateman said.

The man walks into unlocked homes between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. and watches a young woman from her bedroom doorway or near her bed as she sleeps.

When the woman wakes up, he runs away, police say.

None of the women who have come forward to police have been able to provide enough of a description for police to release a composite sketch of the man.

Police are looking through old reports to see if similar incidents fit the pattern, Pateman said.

“I don’t know how many incidents there were before September,” he said.

It’s difficult to say whether the intruder will continue to peep, but his actions are more dangerous than some think, said Laurie Reece, founder of Threat Assessment and Response Canada, a Toronto-based company that profiles stalkers.

“People think peepers are not a problem, (but) it signifies something bigger . . . and potentially bigger to come.”

The intruder’s voyeurism suggests that he’s a man afraid of confrontation who may watch a house before entering, Reece said.

“He doesn’t want you to notice that he’s looking.”

Police are unsure why the man watches women sleep, but Reece said voyeurs are often acting out fantasies.

“These guys have a fantasy life (that) always precedes reality. He’s acting out something that’s in his head.”

Often someone starts peeping after being set off by a stressful trigger, such as the loss of a family member or job, she said.

The chances of a peeper escalating his actions to more dangerous behaviour are slim, said Hannah Scott, a homicide and serial offender specialist who’s an associate professor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa.

“There are a lot more voyeurs out there than people who are offending.”

But women should always be on their guard for safety, said Megan Walker, executive director of the London Abused Women’s Centre.

Peeping can develop from using pornography, then watching women through windows to satisfy a sexual urge, that may heighten, she said.

Even if the intruder’s behaviour doesn’t escalate, it’s violence against women, said Barb MacQuarrie of the Centre for Research on Domestic Violence Against Women and Children.

“This is violence. It is a violation of some of the most personal and intimate space,” she said.

HOW TO HELP

Anyone with information is asked to call the sexual assault section of London police at 519-661-5674.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2008/11/28/7564706-sun.html