Asad Hussain (Image: Cheshire Police)
A stalker has been jailed for faking his ex’s Tinder profile to entice at least 18 men to her home thinking she had a sexual fantasy to be ‘raped‘. Evil monster Asad ‘Ash’ Hussain, 36, went on several dates with the widow, who was looking for romance following the death of her husband of 20 years, after he faked his social media to create a persona called ‘Mick Renney’.
Chester Crown Court heard their short relationship ended in May 2024 due to his all-consuming and paranoid jealousy over any men she knew, even work colleagues. But after their break-up, male strangers began turning up at her home claiming her dating app Tinder had matched them and demanding the “rape fantasy” and “rough” sex she allegedly wanted online.
The men, fooled by a fake profile for her that Hussain created, showed the horrified victim her profile and their messages ‘to each’ other where she supposedly wrote that if she said “no” it just meant she “wanted it more”.
Cheshire Police began investigating and discovered that ‘Renney’ was Hussain. He was arrested and convicted of stalking involving serious alarm or distress, assault and failure to comply with a Section 49 RIPA Notice.
On Monday 29th June Hussain, of Heald Green, Cheadle, was jailed for eight years and handed a 15-year restraining order.
Jailing Hussain, who was watching via a video-link from HMP Altcourse, Judge Michael Leeming told him: “You sent a significant number of men, as many as 35, to her home address.
“You told some she had a rape fantasy and told some to ‘give the door a good shove’, which happened on two occasions.
“You spied on her from a nearby layby and unmatched with the men on Tinder once they had followed your instructions. On one occasion, four men attended the house on a single day.
“She does not know how many men have her information and think this is what she wants. She says she is unable to sleep or eat, that your behaviour has ruined her life and shattered her relationships with her children.
“I find you present a high risk to the victim and to any future partners.”
In a harrowing victim impact statement, the woman – who was luckily never attacked by any of the men – said: “I was with my husband for more than 20 years and after his death I tried to date again.
“Look what has happened. I suffer from ill health which has been severely impacted by the stress of trial. Will this end now he has been convicted?
“I am grateful for the sentence that the Judge has imposed on Hussain. This will bring me some peace.
“However, no sentence takes away the enormous impact his behaviour has had on both myself and my daughters. No person has the right to make me feel unsafe in my own home just because I no longer want to date them.
“No should mean no. Now I am left wondering how many men have my address and believe I want to be sexually assaulted, or worse.
“What did Asad want? Did he want me dead, harmed, raped? What was his goal? What did my neighbours and children think? I appreciate today has delivered some closure and the criminal justice process is at an end.
“However, Hussain has never shown any remorse, never accepted responsibility and I know I will never understand why or receive an apology. That alone has been difficult to accept.”
A jury heard during their brief relationship Hussain would race round if she was ever innocently meeting any male friend and repeatedly ring her doorbell for two hours.
He also insisted she could never have her phone without him present and once forced his way into her bathroom, pushed her onto the ground and confiscated her mobile.
The court heard after the brief relationship it came to an end on 6th May 2024 when the woman awoke to find Hussain had taken her mobile phone and read through her messages to male colleagues and friends.
Hussain then bombarded the victim with questions, demanding to know if she was seeing other men. This was the last time she ever saw ‘Mick Renney’ and she would remain unaware of his real identity as Hussain.
But he went on to contact her children and friends, accusing her of cheating on him, before making numerous attempts to rekindle their relationship which she refused.
Cheshire Police added: “Then in late-July 2024, multiple men began attending her home address saying they’d matched with her on the dating app Tinder and she had invited them round.
“On one night in August 2024, four men attended her address one after another, all reporting having received almost identical messages.
“Other men who turned up at her home told her that her messages said she wanted to engage in a ‘rape fantasy’ and that she wanted to be ‘roughed up’. They’d also explained they were led to believe that if she said ‘no’ it meant she ‘wanted it more’.
“Then in September 2024 she went to answer her door after the doorbell rang. As she approached, a man shoved the door causing a glass panel to smash.
“When she explained her situation, he showed her messages from the fake Tinder account telling him that the front door was open for him and that he should give the door a ‘shove’ as it was ‘stiff’.
“Later that day, she had gone to work when another man attended and managed to enter her house while her teenage daughter was upstairs alone. He remained inside the address for several minutes before leaving, without incident.”
Hussain faked her Tinder profile (Image: Photothek via Getty Images)
Following these incidents, many of the men provided her with their details because they wanted to help with any police investigation.
In their statements to police all of them described incredibly similar events where upon matching with who they believed to be her on Tinder, they were quickly invited round to her address and given her phone number.
When they arrived, they were asked questions regarding what cars were parked outside. They were then told that she was waiting in her conservatory for them and instructed to enter her address.
The force added: “At least 18 men are believed to have been deceived into attending her address. The true number however remains unknown.
“When the victim contacted police response officers from Northwich Local Policing Unit began an investigation but couldn’t identify a ‘Mick Renney’ on any systems.
“When they reviewed the victim’s video doorbell, they quickly identified that the car ‘Renney’ drove was registered to Asad Hussain and insured to his business.
“They were now able to check other systems and established that the ‘Mick Renney’ in the doorbell footage was in fact Asad Hussain.”
Police found Hussain had made significant efforts to conceal his real identity and avoid detection – changing his car reg and using completely separate dedicated mobile phones for his ‘Mick Renney’ alter-ego and the fake Tinder account.
Having learnt of police interest in him, Hussain discarded these mobile phones, and factory reset his personal devices.
He even tried to remove his details from the Companies House listing for his business.
Hussain was arrested on 6 October 2024 after officers from Cumbria Police sighted his van on the M6.
In interview Hussain denied being ‘Mick Renney’ and repeatedly denied knowing the victim or having ever been to her address. He denied any knowledge of the fake Tinder accounts, or using any form of social media or dating app.
Defence barrister Phillip Clemo said a pre-sentence report “made it plain” Hussain “did not accept the verdict”.
He was said to have been employed as a central heating engineer and had no previous convictions other than one for failing to identify the driver for a speeding offence.
Chester Crown Court (Image: MEN Media)
Officers were able to disprove Hussain’s account using a wide range of evidence including CCTV, ANPR and telecommunications data, discovering Hussain had created multiple fake Tinder accounts pretending to be the victim.
The force continued: “Officers were able to show that every time the Tinder accounts were active, Hussain had travelled from Cheadle to the Northwich area, staying at an industrial unit he rented or parked in a layby on the A556 two miles from the victim’s home while operating the fake Tinder accounts for hours at a time.
“Hussain even went as far as contacting the woman pretending to be a man who’d matched with one of the fake Tinder accounts he’d created.
“In messages sent to her, he claimed to have attended her home address more than once and quizzed her on whether police had identified him and what officers had told her.”
Following his arrest, two devices – a mobile phone and an iPad – were seized from his van but he refused to provide any passcodes so officers could access them, despite an order under Section 49 Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, legally requiring Hussain to disclose passcodes for these devices.
Following the sentencing, investigating officer PC Keith Terrill, of Cheshire Police, said: “Asad Hussain is an exceptionally controlling and deceitful individual who went to extreme lengths to cause fear and distress to the victim and her children.
“At no point has he taken any responsibility for his actions. Hussain instead chose to repeatedly lie and hinder the investigation, before forcing the victim and witnesses to sit through a 9-day Crown Court trial.
“The impact on the victim and her family has been devastating. I hope that today’s sentence brings them some closure and allows them to begin rebuilding their lives.
“This has been one of the most technically complex and disturbing stalking cases Cheshire Constabulary has ever investigated.
“It has however once again shown that the internet offers no sanctuary to those who wish to commit violence against women and girls and domestic abuse.
“Cheshire Constabulary takes all reports of stalking extremely seriously and is committed to using every capability and power available to protect the public from the risks stalkers pose.”