A ‘calculated’ stalker who followed a woman in his car for two hours said it was a ‘coincidence.’

Hamed Kardani, 29, followed the woman as she drove to Marks and Spencer in Hedge End and back to Swanwick, a court heard.

The ‘distressing’ incident saw the woman leave her house and drive to the supermarket last June.

Southampton Magistrates’ Court heard how she noticed a Mini Cooper following her.

The driver of the car, namely Kardani, then parked ‘nose to nose’ with her vehicle in the supermarket car park.

READ MORE: Man threatened to 'finish victim off' with e-scooter after pushing him to the ground

When the woman left the shop, Kardani tried to follow her from the car park.

Prosecuting, David Logan-Rose said the victim tried to get away from him.

He said: “She did a U-turn to lose him, but he found her again on the A27.

“He then kerb-crawled her outside her own home in Swanwick after following her all the way there.

“The victim has said she felt anxious about being followed and it made her distressed.

“He was not known to the victim but he knows where she lives.”

But, mitigating, William Day said the incident was merely ‘a coincidence.’ He said: “If you asked Kardani now, he wouldn’t know her address and he wouldn’t remember her name as he does not know her.

“He stands by what he said that it was a coincidence, and he did apologise for any distress caused.”

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Kardani was found guilty of stalking at the same court on April 4.

Magistrates’ chair, Mrs Karen Denyer-Hampton, described it as a ‘really scary’ incident.

She said: “This was a calculated thing you did.

“You made the victim attend court for trial because you believe you did nothing wrong, even though you stalked her for two hours.

“She managed to lose you but then you followed her past her house. It was scary, really scary.

“If you see her again, you are not to go near her.”

Kardani, of Coleridge Drive in Whiteley, was handed a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for a year.

A restraining order was imposed, and he must also pay £620 in costs and a £128 victim surcharge.