A daughter has spoken out about “years of hell” endured by her elderly mother at the hands of a flasher.
Sue Mason-Day described how a neighbour’s behaviour escalated from inappropriate text messages to masturbating naked in his flat window in full view of her mother, Margaret Day.
Robert May, aged 73, of The Village in Chaddesley Corbett, Kidderminster, changed his plea to guilty to an act of outraging public decency – common law at Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court on September 15.
Ms Mason-Day, who has waived her right to anonymity alongside her mum, said: “It’s been going on for 11 years now. It started with text messages when my dad was still alive.
“My mum had asked Rob to look after their birds when they went on holiday, and she received a message in response saying yes but only if he could look at her breasts.
“She asked him if it was a joke, but he wouldn’t let it go. She persistently asked him to stop as it wasn’t funny.
“My dad ended up confronting Rob and told him we’d report it to the police if he didn’t stop.”
After Margaret’s husband Brian died in December 2014, May asked to attend the funeral, which the family refused.
Margaret later received Valentine’s cards from an unknown sender.
She said the card made her feel “uneasy”.
She also claimed to have seen May at her kitchen window around 5.30am, which frightened her.
The family eventually made the decision to install a ring doorbell.
Ms Mason-Day, from Kidderminster, said: “It was 2022 and I had this funny feeling that something wasn’t right.
“My mum is like clockwork with her routine, and I felt Rob knew that. She told me he was constantly watching her.
“We decided to install a ring doorbell, and I remember looking at the footage and it shows Rob going into her garden and putting his fingers on her bras.”
The incident was reported to police, and Ms Mason-Day said she asked officers to speak to May and give him some words of advice.
The situation worsened in July 2025.
She said: “Last year, my mum told me she thought Rob had got a doll in his window. A few days later, she realised it was Rob standing in his window naked.
“I wasn’t sure at first, but in July 2025, we decided we would try and get it on camera.”
To gather evidence, Ms Mason-Day and her husband hid in the back of her mother’s car while Margaret followed her usual routine.
Ms Mason-Day said: “At the time my mum went out in the car, we watched Rob remove the net curtains and we started the video recording.
“It showed him completely naked, masturbating in his flat window.
“He tried to deny it when we reported it to police, and said he was rubbing in deep heat.”
May initially pleaded not guilty to the offence but later changed his plea.
He will be sentenced on October 19.
Ms Mason-Day said: “It has been 11 years of hell for my mum.
“People in the village have turned against her as she’s been accused of being out to get Rob. I feel it is time that people knew the truth.
“Rob was friends with my mum and dad. They would bring over meals for him as he was on his own. They felt sorry for him.
“It is horrendous.
“My mum was always proud of her garden, but now she can’t even sit out in it. It has been going on for too long.”
