Actress Anna Friel has instructed a court docket how a person who stalked her for practically three years left her feeling “threatened and shocked”.
Phil Appleton, 71, was handed a restraining order of 15 years and a neighborhood order of 24 months on Thursday after he pleaded responsible to stalking Ms Friel.
Appleton despatched the actress a number of messages and visited her dwelling handle a number of instances, blowing kisses and mouthing “I love you” on the home’s CCTV cameras in addition to leaving “unwanted” presents like empty cigarette packets, between 1 January 2022 and 11 December 2024, Studying Crown Courtroom heard.
Ms Friel, who didn’t attend the listening to, stated in a sufferer assertion learn out in court docket: “As a woman in the acting industry where there have been a lot of cases of stalking, it still shocked me when it happened to me.
“This case had made me really feel very threatened and as if I’ve to look over my shoulder on a regular basis.”
Appleton initially met the 49-year-old actress, who first discovered fame within the cleaning soap opera Brookside and is finest recognized for roles in comedy collection Pushing Daisies and the thriller drama Marcella, whereas she was on a stroll together with her daughter in Windsor, Berkshire, the place he additionally lived on the time.
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Phil Appleton, 71, arrives at Studying Crown Courtroom to be sentenced. Pic: PA
“She decided not to respond in the hope that he would stop.”
However the messages didn’t cease, and Appleton’s obsession with Ms Friel appeared to escalate, with the 71-year-old telling the actress that he wished to marry her and sending her particulars of a marriage he was apparently planning, the court docket heard.
He first went to her dwelling handle in the direction of the top of 2023 whereas he was wearing a dinner jacket to ask Ms Friel to return to a ball with him.
In December 2024, Appleton went to Ms Friel’s dwelling once more and was caught wanting by way of her lounge window, Mr Patel stated. The prosecutor added that Appleton handed Ms Friel’s daughter an empty pack of cigarettes to present to her mom.
CCTV footage revealed Appleton had been standing exterior Ms Friel’s dwelling for a number of minutes earlier than he was noticed, making “facial expressions as though he was communicating with someone” on the digicam, mouthing the phrases “I love you” and holding up a hoop, in keeping with Mr Patel.
On 10 December 2024, Appleton returned to Ms Friel’s dwelling and as soon as once more left an empty packet of cigarettes and a wood ring, in addition to mouthing one thing and blowing kisses on the CCTV digicam.
He was arrested the following day and later admitted to a psychological well being hospital, from the place he was discharged in February 2025. He was remanded in custody for six months till he was granted conditional bail in August, when he pleaded responsible to a stalking offence.
Appleton felt “unreserved apology and shame about his behaviour”, his defence lawyer instructed the court docket, including that the defendant “wishes nothing more than to return to the law-abiding life he has lived all these years”.
As a part of the restraining order, Appleton should not strategy, observe, or contact Ms Friel or her daughter, immediately or not directly, and should steer clear of the realm surrounding Ms Friel’s dwelling in Windsor.
Choose Alan Blake stated Appleton’s compliance with the neighborhood order necessities may even be monitored electronically for the following 12 months.
