THE son of a serial rapist jailed for life in the 1980s has admitted stalking a checkout girl after meeting her when she was a teenager.

Julian Lamb, of Southampton Road, Ringwood, met his young victim when she was just 17 and working at Morrisons in Verwood. He later told police that as he paid for his shopping the victim “blushed” and looked at a colleague, which led him to believe she was attracted to him.

He then launched a six-year campaign of harassment, messaging her scores of times via Instagram and Facebook despite her pleas for him to leave her alone.

Lamb, 44, told the victim he is the son of John Lambe, otherwise known as the M5 rapist. He urged the young woman to research his father, who worked as a builder and lorry driver, and was jailed for life after he carried out a string of sex attacks on women aged between 15 and 74 in Bristol and Taunton between 1975 and 1980.

On Friday, Julian Lamb appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court for a sentencing hearing after admitting stalking without fear, alarm or distress.

Nick Robinson, prosecuting, said Lamb’s victim “repeatedly asked him leave her alone, even saying, ‘Look, I’ve had enough’.”

On one occasion, Lamb sent four messages to which the complainant made no reply. The following day, he messaged once again to say: “Can we just be friends again please? If not, just say and never hear from me again.

“I think about you too much and compare everyone physically to you.”

In messages discussing his father, Lamb said: “My dad has just been released.

“I’m struggling. You’re the only one that said ‘You’re not your dad’.”

The victim, who is now in her 20s, did not want to give evidence at the court but in a victim impact statement read aloud by the barrister, she said: “No person has the right to treat me in this way or disregard my obviously and clearly stated wishes to be left alone. It should not be down to me to stop a person from contacting me. He knows perfectly well I do not want it. I never wanted it.”

Robert Grey, mitigating, said Lamb’s behaviour is “unacceptable”.

His father’s convictions, which happened when the defendant was seven, “resulted in distorted thinking”, the barrister said, adding: “It’s such a terrible thing to happen to a young child. It’s impossible to say his development and thinking thereafter would not have been adversely affected by it. To that extent, he is a victim of what his father did.”

Judge Brian Forster QC said the maximum prison sentence after a trial for the charge Lamb admitted is six months.

“You became obsessed with a young girl,” he said. “Your actions haunted her.”

He said the public will be “rightly concerned” about Lamb’s offending, but said: “The CPS found themselves in a difficult position because a situation came about where the complainant did not want to give evidence.”

Probation officers recommended Lamb was not jailed so he could complete a course to address his “abusive behaviour”.

“It is absolutely clear to me the appropriate sentence has to ensure the defendant is supervised for the maximum amount of time available to the court,” he said.

Lamb was sentenced to a three-year community order with 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 200 hours of unpaid work.

The victim will be protected with an indefinite restraining order.