A stalker posed as a postman to trick a woman into opening her front door before grabbing her by the throat and threatening to kill her.

Andrew Mouter called out "Royal Mail" when the woman asked who was knocking – but when she opened the door, he forced his way inside and began choking her.

Newcastle Crown Court heard Mouter had bombarded the woman with unwanted messages, sent her a video of his privates and repeatedly turned up at her home in the weeks before the attack.

Prosecutor Jane Waugh said when the woman heard someone at her door that morning, she thought it might be the police. After hearing the words “Royal Mail” she opened the door, only to find the defendant on her doorstep.

Andrew Mouter has been locked up for 28 months.

placeholder image — Andrew Mouter has been locked up for 28 months.

She added: “He launched forward, grabbed her by the throat and squeezed. He pinned her against the wall so she couldn't breathe and said 'I'm going to kill you'.”

The court heard the victim managed to run upstairs and call the police.

She said the whole ordeal had left her “exhausted” and with feelings of “hatred, anger, contempt and frustration”.

Mouter, 50, of Dene Street, Sunderland, admitted stalking, intentional strangulation, causing criminal damage to the woman’s phone and sending a photograph of his genitals with intent to cause alarm or distress.

Recorder Jonathan Sandiford KC sentenced the delivery driver to 28 months behind bars.

Addressing the defendant in the dock, he said: “You pretended you were the postman, saying 'Royal Mail,' and when she opened the door you then forced your way into her house, where she was entitled to feel safe and not be attacked by you. “What she was confronted with was you grabbing her by the neck and squeezing her throat and telling her you were going to kill her.”

Jason Smith, representing Mouter, said his client “wasn't thinking properly” at the time of the offence, and had mental health issues.