THE young usherette busily swept the cinema floor, unaware that she was being watched from the shadows.

She froze when she sensed someone's presence at the doorway. It was a terrifying moment that the pretty 17-year-old had dreaded for months.

"I looked up and saw him standing there. My heart skipped a beat. I was trembling and grabbed hold of the brush to defend myself.

"I was very scared and didn't know which way to turn."

The heart-stopping scene could have come straight from the pages of a Hollywood script. "It was like being in a film," said the usherette in disbelief. "I just didn't know what was going to happen next."

But the sobering truth is that it happened here in Lancashire.

The victim was a teenager from Burnley who worked part-time at a local cinema.

Her life was turned upside down when she suffered threats to her life and demands to strip naked in a malicious chain of letters from an anonymous man who called himself "The Shadow."

The stalker turned out to be a 26-year-old film buff who became besotted with the teenager because, he told police, she had been very nice to him and had not treated him like a moron on his regular visits to the cinema.

The man, who lives only 10 minutes away from his victim, admitted making a threat in a letter to kill the teenager.

But he walked free from court with a year's probation order.

Rossendale and Darwen MP Janet Anderson is urging the Government to rush through the first Stalking Bill for this country which could result in six months in jail or a £5,000 fine for offenders. Speaking only days after the court case, in which a judge told the defendant he was not a violent person and his victim had not been at risk, the terrified teenager, now 18, spoke of her outrage at a judicial system which failed her.

"She also told of her fears for the future.

"Without any punishment the stalker will think he has done nothing wrong.

"I'm terrified that he may target me again or someone else," she said, unable to sit still on the edge of the settee at the uncomfortable thought.

"He has to pay me compensation but money means nothing to me - nothing at all. "He has ruined my life. I've lost my youth. I've had to grow up fast."

The once-bubbly, confident teenager was on the threshold of life before disaster struck. She was excelling at college, had many friends and would "happily chat to anyone."

Looking at her perplexed expression and listening to her wise words today it is easy to forget she is a teenager.

The only reminders of her youth are the Take That videos next to the TV and the shiny, fashionable clothes she wears.

She said: " He absolutely frightened me to death. I don't trust males at all now and I am constantly on my guard. I'm very self-conscious I'm very careful about who I talk to. I don't like myself any more. I thought there was something wrong with me and that was the reason he was doing it." Police found that the stalker had a video entitled The Shadow at his home, as well as scraps of paper which appeared to be drafts of his last letter. But when interviewed he said he had no intention of carrying out his threats.

The strain of continually fearing for her safety wrecked the victim's studies at Nelson and Colne College and ruined her social life because she is too afraid to venture out on her own for fear of being attacked

She said: "He seemed nice at first and I chatted to him about films, as I would do any cinema-goer to make them feel welcome. But I feel very, very angry with him because I was so nice to him and he turned round and did this to me. I kept on at the cinema because I loved that job and the people I worked with. I had to leave eventually but I still miss it."

She can't wait for the day when the Stalking Bill is in force.

"The police didn't do anything at first," she said. "Both I and my parents were angry and disgusted. We felt powerless. They said if he hadn't approached me or harmed me there was nothing they could do.

"Stalking is mental abuse. You live in fear all the time. It is serious and I won't rest easy until that man is punished for what he has done to me."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.