A crazed stalker has been released from prison - after serving three years for an attempted break-in at a woman’s home to try and rape her.
Evil creep James Steele (53) was arrested on July 27, 2020 after turning up at Una Ring’s home with duct tape, rope, a crowbar and a prosthetic penis strapped to him.
Our photos show Steele, now sporting a grey beard and glasses, seated in the back seat of a car that came to collect him from Dublin’s Arbour Hill Prison on Thursday morning.
READ MORE - Sicko who became obsessed and threatened to rape work colleague jailed after victim's year from hell
Steele was freed after serving just three years of a five-year sentence he received in February 2021, after a chilling campaign of terror against Ms Ring.
Steele was arrested outside Ms Ring’s home in Youghal, Co Cork.
The mother-of-two has since spoken out about her ordeal and previously told the Sunday Mirror that she was terrified of his eventual release.
“Once he gets out, I will be terrified. He will have to abide by parole conditions, but that’s the scariest thing for me.
“I’m afraid that if he doesn’t abide by the conditions he will turn up at my door and he could do me serious harm.
“He will have strict probation but nobody is going to be babysitting him 24/7. I will be told if he is being let out but after that it’s just a case of looking over my shoulder.”
Steele, who is originally from Australia, is now a registered sex offender.
His relentless campaign of harassment started with a barrage of texts to Una but it quickly escalated.
Gardaí monitoring the mother-of-two’s house on the evening of July 27, 2020 arrested Steele on the driveway next door to Una’s home.
Terrifying CCTV footage was later released showing the monster outside the house.
“He had a lot of stuff on him. He had latex gloves on him. He had a lockpicking device. He had a crowbar, duct tape, he had a rope,” she previously said.
“He had a dildo strapped to him with a condom on it. I believe he would have killed me."
Una previously appeared on the Virgin Media programme Stalked and told in detail of her harrowing ordeal.
Steele, of Reavilleen, Rosscarbery, Co Cork, later told gardai that the only explanation he could offer for his actions was that he had become totally obsessed with Ms Ring, who was his former work colleague.
The court heard that Steele had asked out Ms Ring in February 2020.
Despite being rebuffed, he began sending her several text messages, even when she asked him to stop.
She then awoke one morning and left her home to discover the tyres on her car had all been painted pink.
She also later discovered that a game of Xs and Os had been painted onto the window of her house with the disturbing message "I win."
Days later she discovered letters in black envelopes on her car windscreen - including a letter containing a threat that he would break into her home via the back door and rape her and her daughter.
“I was so certain that James Steele was going to break in and attack me that I used to tidy up the house each night before going to bed so that the house would be presentable for the crime scene photos,” Ms Ring previously said.
“I even considered getting a tattoo with my name, town name and date of birth so that if he abducted and killed me that my body would be easily and quickly identified – that's how utterly terrified I was... I still am.
“James Steele has destroyed my life in the last year. I have been diagnosed with PTSD, have ongoing nightmares and have suffered from depression and anxiety. I am on four different types of medication just to get me through the day.
“I hate being alone. I even check the car to ensure that no one has broken in and is lying in the back waiting for me."
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