A STALKER who tricked funeral directors into believing his sister-in-law was dead has been locked up.

Andrew Lydiatt unleashed a year-long campaign of terror against Stella Lydiatt after struggling to cope with the death of his mother.

The 54-year-old, who had 38 previous convictions, also went on to wage war against his nephew Barry Lydiatt and niece Ellen Wright, publicly posting insulting Facebook messages.

Sentencing at Oxford Crown Court yesterday, recorder Rhona Campbell jailed the offender for 14 months and slapped him with a restraining order forbidding him from contacting his brother, wife and their two children.

She added: “The psychological effect of behaviour towards someone like this is a matter that is significant.”

The stalker called Ms Lydiatt at her Banbury home, shouting ‘it should have been you that died’ and ‘bet you’re glad she’s dead, the day after his mother passed away in November 2015.

Lydiatt hurled further abuse at his brother Philip and his wife during two further calls, leaving Ms Lydiatt ‘shaking like a leaf’, prosecutor Henry James said.

The defendant continued to harass Ms Lydiatt with a number of calls, staying silent on the other end of the line after bothering his victim while she was home alone in the evenings.

A ‘distressed’ Ms Lydiatt would scour her home in search of intruders after receiving the worrying phone calls from her stalker, the court was told.

She was also awoken by rattling, spotting undertakers from Banbury’s Humphris Funerals outside her home after being sent there to collect her body by the stalker, who had pretended to be her husband.

A hearse from Co-op Funeralcare was also sent to her home by Lydiatt, the prosecutor revealed.

Both of Ms Lydiatt’s children were left ‘frightened and humiliated’ when their uncle made public posts on Facebook, which included saying ‘hope you all die’.

The ‘final straw’ for Ms Lydiatt was when she contacted Humphris Funerals, discovering a second request to get undertakers to collect her body had been made by the defendant.

Defence barrister Robert Lindsey said Lydiatt, who appeared via video link from HMP Bullingdon and must pay a victim surcharge, was remorseful for his ‘spiteful’ offending.

Lydiatt, who suffers with mental health difficulties, ‘desperately wishes’ for bereavement counselling to come to terms with the deaths of both his parents, which he did not handle well, the barrister added.

The stalker’s offending since 2015 was due to his binge drinking after battling an alcohol problem for some time, Dr Lindsey revealed.

Lydiatt, of Middleton Road, Banbury, admitted stalking Stella Lydiatt between November 4, 2015, and November 22, 2016.

He also admitted four counts of sending a communication of an indecent or offensive nature on November 21 last year.