A scientist dubbed Britain’s worst stalker is making a new bid for freedom after spending two decades behind bars.
Richard Jan, 55, was locked up for life after targeting 200 victims, including a councillor whose home he fire-bombed.
The biochemist also slashed tyres and made thousands of round-the-clock crank calls during a seven-year campaign of terror.
Detectives branded him ‘undoubtedly Britain’s worst stalker’ and he spent 13 years in prison on top of his seven-year minimum sentence.
But Jan, of Streatham, south London, could be released later this year after the parole board agreed to assess him.
Richard Jan (pictured) was locked up for life after targeting 200 victims, including a councillor whose home he fire-bombed
A hearing will be scheduled in Autumn, potentially paving the way for the convicted stalker to be freed into the community.
A source said: ‘Jan makes Martha from Baby Reindeer look like a soft touch. He’s a manipulative bully who ruined dozens of people’s lives.
‘It’s a frightening prospect for his many victims that he could soon walk free.’
Jan was jailed for life in 2004 after fire-bombing the home of a councillor and torching the car of a social worker.
He vowed ‘World War Three’ against 200 victims he claimed were part of a ‘fascist horde’ plotting to section him.
Police said 4,500 threatening calls linked to Jan were the ‘tip of the iceberg’.
Victims were subjected to ‘trademark’ tyre slashings, while others were followed home, sent unwanted pizzas, taxis and even a pest control officer.
A flow chart found in his home contained entries like ‘terminated’, ‘torpedoed’ ‘obliterated’, ‘bombed’ and ‘disabled’ next to the names of some of his targets.
One victim, a councillor in Ealing, west London, was lucky to escape when he fire-bombed her family’s home.
Another, a social worker, was twice taken to hospital after late-night attacks outside her front door in Hanwell, Middlesex.
Jan, of Streatham, south London , could be released later this year after the parole board agreed to assess him
Yet psychiatrists could find no evidence of mental illness with Jan, who has a genius-level IQ of 150.
He was found guilty of two counts of arson with intent to endanger life and one of causing a public nuisance between November 13, 1996, and February 7, 2003 – a charge police felt was best able to embrace the many other aspects of his campaign of hatred.
Judge Henry Blacksell branded the stalker ‘devious, manipulative and a bully’ and told him: ‘You cunningly set out to unnerve and ruin people you thought had crossed you.
‘Her Majesty’s subjects need protection from you.’
Some of Jan’s victims were forced to quit their jobs, move homes or change names.
Detective chief inspector David Poole said upon his sentencing: ‘There has never been a case like this before.
‘He is undoubtedly Britain’s worst stalker, a very dangerous individual who … ruined lives.
‘This man was remorseless and relentless in the way he inflicted terror on people.’
Jan was denied parole in 2021 after officials heard he had threatened staff behind bars.
The Parole Board confirmed a new hearing would be held later this year.