A man who harassed the mother of his children for nearly two years has avoided jail after dressing up as a clown and smashing her front door with an axe.

Pawel Rabel, 47, showed up at the mother-of-three's house on the evening of October 20 2025 'growling' and wearing a clown mask and costume.

Rabel, of High Street, Tonbridge, then briefly spoke in his native Polish to the mother to confirm his identity while standing about three metres from the house.

As the alarmed mother ushered her children inside and closed the door, Rabel struck with his axe on her front door.

However, Rabel, who had no previous convictions, has been spared jail and instead must undergo 18 months of community order and 90 hours of unpaid work, among other sentences.

The attack was the worst incident in a two-year-long ordeal where the former bus driver harassed his ex-partner of eight years and their children.

Between December 2023 and October 2025, Rabel would be seen near the children's school in his distinctive van, appeared uninvited to his son's jujitsu lessons and uploaded a video of himself and his ex-partner arguing to YouTube. 

Although the mother had taken out a non-molestation order, his stalking was 'persistent' and over a long period of time, according to prosecutor Alban Brahimi.

In a victim statement read at his sentencing hearing at Maidstone Crown Court on August 20, the mother revealed she had a mental breakdown after the incident and now suffers from depression.

'The incidents have had a great effect on the victim; it has caused her fear, harassment and distress,' Mr Brahimi said, who described Rabel on the night of the attack as having a 'menacing manner' and 'making growling noises'.

Later on the evening of the clown attack, the mother found a yellow Aldi bag in the garden which contained a handwritten card and the clown mask.

In the early hours of October 21, police located Rabel, who they said appeared to be intoxicated, and found an axe in his van which was seized.

Rabel, who has lived in the UK for 20 years, insisted the axe was plastic and not real, adding that he had only visited his ex-partner's house to deliver a birthday card.

Adrian Yalland, defending, said: 'My client says this was not a metal axe that was found by police, but it was a toy meat cleaver that came as part of the clown costume.'

However, Rabel acknowledged that the axe gave the impression of a real axe and was 'stupid to carry it'. 

But the judge told the court the scratches on the mother's door would have come from a metal axe, adding: 'I would not expect a plastic axe to scratch.' 

The court heard how Rabel had often left parcels and letters outside the house in the months leading up to the incident.

Mr Yalland said Rabel had struggled to accept the breakdown of his family unit, which included two biological children and a step-child, and had an 'insistence and hope' that his relationship with the mother could be rekindled.

The court was told that Rabel, who had been living in a bail hostel for the last six months on qualifying curfew, felt a degree of shame that he could no longer be an active parent and the father he wished he could be. 

The court further heard he had expressed remorse for his actions, telling his barrister: 'I hope with all my heart that time will heal matters.'

In the end, Rabel was only prosecuted for three out of the five charges he was facing, which included criminal damage to the front door, possessing an offensive weapon in a public place and stalking without causing fear, alarm and distress.

Mr Recorder Andrew Walker imposed the community order and unpaid work, as well as 15 hours of rehabilitation activity sessions for the stalking and possession of an offensive weapon, with no separate penalty for damaging the property.

Rabel must also pay his victim £300 in compensation – which will be paid as £25 a month –  with no victim surcharge or court costs as it has been transferred to compensation.

An eight-year restraining order was further imposed, prohibiting him from contacting his ex-partner or entering Tunbridge Wells, subject to certain conditions. 

Recorder Walker said: 'These offences are so serious that nothing less than a community order is justified.'