A STALKER left his victim so terrified that she had to have time off work and take anti-depressants.

Christopher North, who once identified himself as Angel Smurf Heaven in court, still insists on psychiatric doctors calling him that.

The 43-year-old Stockton man was given a hospital order, and will only be released when specialists think it is safe enough.

He admitted two charges of stalking causing serious alarm or distress between 2013 and 2018.

He is accused of repeatedly going to a cafe staring at a woman, speaking to her, asking for her, telling her she was "the most beautiful thing he has ever seen" and, in February 2016, sending her a Valentine's card.

It was alleged he went to the cafe with a knife saying he had chopped a man's head off and sent a letter asking to be allowed to return to the cafe after being barred.

North, of Bishopton Road, Stockton, faced two charges of stalking causing serious alarm or distress, and a jury found he had committed the acts.

At Teesside Crown Court, Judge Howard Crowson imposed the hospital order along with a five-year restraining order banning North from contacting the woman or going to her place of work.

Prosecutor Ian West said the restraining order was designed “to see if the infatuation will subside”.

Mr West wanted a more robust hospital order with restrictions, and told the court: “This is a man who carries knives, has delusional thoughts that the doctors don’t like him, and this complainant loves him.

“He still refers to himself as Angel Smurf Heaven, and a report mentions two other occasions when he has court appearances, once in Italy as a result of unwanted attention towards a female.”

In 2013, he walked free from a London court with a suspended sentence after making a bomb hoax at a cafe and racially-abusing the manageress of a Chinese restaurant.