by Adam Williams

A woman who terrorised her ex-teaching assistant for eight years has been banned from contacting her.

Sarah Durling harassed Alison Skinner with endless letters, phone calls and emails as she pleaded to be her daughter. Canterbury Magistrates heard the 24-year-old’s bombardment began shortly after Miss Skinner left her job at the Orchard School in Wincheap, where Durling was a year 11 pupil.

It continued as Miss Skinner started a new job with Connexions in Canterbury, culminating last September in an elaborate lie about a baby she never had dying in its cot.

A selective mute and Asperger’s sufferer, Durling was cautioned for harassment on October 8, but started to send letters and pictures to Miss Skinner almost immediately. They included photos of her cats and dogs and papier-mâché models, while phone calls and a Christmas card continued into the new year. When arrested she would not give any reason for her behaviour other than she wanted to “share her life” with Miss Skinner.

Sophie Read, defending, said: “She can’t always answer questions or understand instructions. But she doesn’t have a blatant disregard for the court system, just a lack of understanding.

“There is a long-standing history here, but no violence or assault against the victim.”

On Thursday, Durling from Fallowfield, Sittingbourne was sentenced after her case was adjourned last month for psychiatric reports. She was handed a two-year conditional discharge and a restraining order banning her from making any contact with Miss Skinner.

She must not enter Dover Street, where the Canterbury branch of Connexions is or any of their other branches across the country. She is also banned from making contact with any Connexions staff.

Magistrate Stephen Austin warned Durling of the consequences of breaching her restraining order.

He said: “Should you ignore any of these conditions, you’ll be back before this court facing a much more severe punishment.

“Your conditional discharge also means should you commit further offences in the next two years, you’ll be treated much more seriously.”