A STALKER from Kent who preyed on up to 60 women across the country and threatened to rape and murder some of them has been jailed for eight years.

Farmworker Mark Brown, 30, of Mansfields Farm, Rodmersham, near Sittingbourne, targeted dozens of victims in Kent at random, bombarding them with disgusting and abusive telephone calls and text messages.

Brown even travelled more than 200 miles to call one terrified woman outside her home, saying he could see what she was wearing and would break in to slit her throat.

He spent thousands of pounds on mobile phone bills over seven months, sending more than 500 text messages to some of his victims to satisfy his urges.

Police finally snared Brown at his home after one victim came forward, prompting them to scour records from his four mobile phones.

When they phoned numbers on the bills, officers came across scores of other women "whose lives had been ruined" by the harassment.

Yet while waiting for his trial behind bars, Brown continued tormenting his frightened victims by using his prison phone card. Even when prison guards confiscated the card, Brown stole those of fellow inmates and carried on with his "spiteful campaign".

Brown began picking out his victims, who ranged from 15 to 42, from classified ads in local newspapers in April 2002. Initially, he would be friendly to the women but he soon turned nasty, Winchester Crown Court heard.

Brown denied one charge of causing public nuisance, eight of putting people in fear of violence, and two of threats to kill but was convicted by the jury.