PEEPING Tom Gary Manning, who conducted a campaign of harassment against two young Malmesbury women, has been jailed.

Manning, 19, stole underwear from their washing lines for sexual gratification, spied on them and banged on their front doors late at night.

North Wiltshire Magistrates ruled he was a risk to women and on Friday they sentenced him to four months.

The court heard he was spotted carrying out a sex act while peering through a garden fence at one of his victims while she sunbathed and followed another round a supermarket before standing close behind and blowing in her hair.

He even carried on after being given an official warning by the police.

Manning, of Silvestone Close, admitted two counts of harassment between July 1 and October 5 last year. He also asked the bench to take seven similar offences, involving thefts of underwear from other washing lines, into account.

Crown Prosecutor Andrew Pritchard said Amy Constable first noticed a young man hanging around her home on July 1 last year. He was seen several times and on July seven he was seen standing in a neighbourís garden looking through the fence into hers.

Rebecca King, who has a young son, discovered underwear was being taken from her line. Manning also kept knocking on her door at night and followed her round the Co-op store in High Street.

In her victim impact statement Ms King said she believed her agoraphobia had been triggered by the offences.

Ms Constable stated: "I am totally shocked by what he has done." She said she had become very wary of men of his age group.

Andrew Eddy, defending, said Manning wanted to apologise to the victims for his behaviour. He told the court: "He is glad to see that the victims of the offences are in court so they can see justice being done and find some closure."

He explained Manning had been acting under the influence of alcohol and had not thought through the consequences of his actions.

Arguing against a custodial sentence the solicitor pointed to medical reports suggesting he could be helped to tackle his behaviour, his attitude towards others and his alcohol consumption.

Despite reservations expressed in a probation report, community punishment was viable, he said.

Highlighting a line in Amy Constable's victim impact statement, which stated: "I think he needs help," Mr Eddy said: "He does, and the probation service are in a position to offer that."

However the bench decided to hand down a four-month prison sentence on each offence, to run concurrently.

Chairman of the bench Keith Ridewood said: "We consider these offences so serious that the public has to be protected.

"He explained they had considered a suspended sentence but had been swayed by a report compiled just two days before, which "still considers that you pose a risk of harm to the public, particularly females, at this time."

Restraining orders preventing Manning from contacting either victim for the next two years, directly or indirectly, were also imposed.

A friend of one of the women said after the hearing: "He has violated our lives. He has made us feel so confined in our houses, now he will have a little taste of that. I think it will make him realise."

"I can sleep at night now," she said.