Tinder stalker Sean Flintoff jailed for more than six years

A stalker who voraciously preyed on 25 women through multiple online dating services has been jailed – but could be released from prison as early as next year.

A northern-suburbs man who harassed 25 victims he met on Tinder, Oasis and Facebook has been jailed for six years for his offending, but could walk free as soon as next year.

Sean Ian Bruce Flintoff, 36, of Andrews Farm, pleaded guilty in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court to 25 counts of stalking relating to 25 women over a period of nine years.

Flintoff was sentenced to six years and two months in prison for the offending, with a non-parole period of three years and four months.

Flintoff’s backdated sentence could see him out of jail by the end of 2024.

The court heard Flintoff stalked 25 women, ordering pizzas to their homes and compiling surveillance notes on their activities after meeting them on various online dating apps.

He was also initially charged with a range of offences relating to him possessing some of his victim’s driver’s licences, mail and having surveillance notes on a number of the women.

Those charges were later dropped as part of a plea deal.

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.

Sean Flintoff charged with stalking another woman he met on an online dating app. Picture: Facebook

Sean Flintoff leaves EMC. Picture: Jason Katsaras

In December, 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.

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

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

He was charged in August last year and 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.

Flintoff’s sentence will be backdated to August 12, 2021.