Tinder stalker Sean Flintoff may be released after 18 months behind bars

A northern suburbs stalker who preyed on women through Tinder, Oasis and on Facebook - harassing them ferociously - may be released from prison in February.

After voraciously stalking 10 women, including ordering pizzas to their homes and compiling surveillance notes on their activities, a serial predator may be released from prison after spending 18 months behind bars.

Sean Ian Bruce Flintoff, 36, of Andrews Farm, has pleaded guilty to 22 counts of stalking relating to several different women over a period of eight years.

He was also charged with a range of offences relating to him possessing some of their drivers licences, mail and surveillance notes on them.

Those charges have since been withdrawn as part of a plea deal.

The Elizabeth Magistrates Court on Thursday heard Nick Vadasz, for Flintoff, would ask the court for his client to be released from prison when he next faces court in February.

Serial stalker Sean Ian Bruce Flintoff. Picture: Facebook

Flintoff leaves the Elizabeth Magistrates Court last year. Picture: File

That request, Mr Vadasz said, would come in lieu of Flintoff spending time on parole, and instead see him under strict supervision of the Department of Corrections.

"His future would be more certain if Your Honour imposes conditions rather than a non-parole period," he said.

The court heard Flintoff was raised in poverty, physically abused by both of his parents and may have an intellectual ability.

During a previous hearing, the court heard Flintoff was categorised as a “rejected stalker”, which could be split into two distinct categories.

Those categories would determine whether his actions were a way of exacting revenge or an attempt to reconcile relationships, and that distinction would "change the culpability significantly".

“It’s not just the words that he’s used, it’s his behaviour, that can fall under either," Magistrate Mark Semmens said.

On Thursday, Flintoff wept over video-link from Mt Gambier prison as details of the physical and psychological abuse he was subjected to as a boy was detailed.

His sister, sitting in the body of the court as she has throughout her brother's incarceration, joined him with her tears.

Outside of court she was asked if she was supportive of her brother, and why.

"Because he's my f***ing brother," she said.

She then said her childhood had been similarly abusive to his.

Victim impact statements of the 10 women are expected to be read before the court in February when Flintoff learns if he will walk free from prison.

Those statements were previously expected to be read in November, and again on Thursday, with Mr Semmens saying he wanted the matter finalised for their sake. 

Flintoff was first reported to police after a woman who was talking to him on Tinder expressed her fear of him.

He was charged in August last year and then bailed on one count of stalking and one of property damage before a torrent of victims came forward expressing similar experiences with him.

Eventually, the series of women coming forward led to the revelation Flintoff had continued similar offending over a nine-year period until August last year.

Flintoff targeted women in their mid-30s using social media and Tinder.

The court previously heard Flintoff’s sickening infatuation with his victims had led him to send sex workers and pizzas to their homes, and to bombard them with text messages.

He will be sentenced in February.