Married pensioner, 75, avoids jail after bombarding young women with sexually explicit phone calls asking if they were 'horny' in nine-month campaign

A 75-year-old grandfather who bombarded young women with sexually explicit and abusive phone calls asking if they were 'horny' has been spared jail.

Married Michael Bunce, 75, targeted six women during a nine-month campaign of harassment telling one he wanted to tie her up and others he knew where they lived.

One 24-year-old victim who he made 'graphic and abusive' calls to said she lived in fear and felt helpless as the elderly pervert rang 'relentlessly'.

Although Bunce, from Broadstairs, Kent, admitted the crimes, he blamed his vile behaviour on medication he was taking for Parkinson's disease.

Grandfather Michael Bunce, 75, from Broadstairs, Kent, who bombarded young women with sexually explicit and abusive phone calls asking if they were 'horny' has been spared jail

Last October Bunce phoned one young mother and asked to speak to her sister, before adding: 'Are you horny like her?'

Over the next six weeks, Bunce made sexually explicit and suggestive phone calls to the same woman, who asked to remain anonymous.

Speaking after Bunce pleaded guilty in court, she said: 'He'd say, "can you work out what I'm doing?".

'He asked to meet up for a drink and said he wanted to get a hotel room and that he'd pay me to make videos with him.

'He would ring every Wednesday and Thursday between 11am and 1pm and would always be on a withheld number. 

'If I didn't pick up, he'd ring relentlessly and he got nastier.'

But in November, Bunce forgot to withhold his number and she was able to pass his details onto police, who soon tracked him down to his home.

At Margate Magistrates' Court, Bunce pleaded guilty to six charges of sending a communication of an indecent or offensive nature

The woman, from nearby Whitstable, added: 'It wasn't until a good month or so into it that one of the officers said he lives in Kent.

'That was when it changed, as he was not a chancer - he was someone who meant what he was saying.

'When he would say "should I come round?", it felt like he was right outside the door.'

Bunce told the mother-of-two he knew where she lived and on one occasion he suggested he saw her children leave her home moments before he rang.

As a result she bought street-facing CCTV cameras and her family took it in turns to sleep on her sofa.

Most evenings she would drift off to sleep as the glare of her phone, which was streaming images from the security cameras, illuminated her face.

She said: 'Twenty times a night I used to wake thinking someone was knocking on the door.

'I was told I could block his calls but he was telling me he knew my address and when my kids had left. 

'I felt like by answering the phone, it kept him away from my front door.

'He was letting me know that he was watching me. I felt helpless.'

Even after Bunce was apprehended by detectives, the victim said he called her once more.

 Although Bunce, from Broadstairs, Kent, admitted the crimes, he blamed his vile behaviour on medication he was taking for Parkinson's disease

She added: 'He said he just wanted to tell me that he's sorry. I replied that I'll see him in court.

'He said, "would it make you horny to see me in court?" He obviously isn't sorry - he's disgusting.'

At Margate Magistrates' Court, Bunce pleaded guilty to six charges of sending a communication of an indecent or offensive nature.

Prosecutor Suzanne Soros said Bunce made it clear to his six young victims that he knew where they lived.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, one of the women who was harassed for nine months, said: 'He would say he wanted to tie me up and do things to me.

'I have suffered with anxiety and this has made it worse. I'm stressed. I am worried about what he is capable of.'

The court heard the victim feared she was being followed by Bunce whenever she left her home.

Victims of Bunce told the pest to stop contacting them - but he continued and in some cases sent indecent text messages.

Ms Soros added: 'It would have been young women who received the calls, which were both graphic and abusive.

'What was distressing to the victims was that the defendant had identified their addresses and asked for individuals by name. They experienced a great deal of fear.'

But Bunce insisted he is 'a good man' and blamed his actions on Parkinson's medication he has been taking since his diagnosis in 2014.

Reading aloud from a letter he said was penned by his GP, he said his 'personality change' could be manifestations of an increased dosage of the drugs.

Bunce, who declined legal representation in court, added: 'You don't know how ashamed I am. I'm nearly 76. Nothing like this has ever happened before.

'I have the best respect for women. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a good man.'

He suffered head trauma from a fall in 2014 and was diagnosed with Parkisnons's and later developed dementia.

The defendant admitted that his wife of 58 years is aware of his crimes. 

He said in a letter that his actions had brought 'shame and pain' on his family, and that his oldest son has not spoken to him since the incidents first came to light.

He was given a 120-day sentence suspended for two years and told to pay £200 to each of his victims.