Stalker told friends he'd wed ‘perfect wife’ actress

ACTRESS Anna Friel has told a court she was left feeling ‘threatened and shocked’ by a man who stalked her for nearly three years and left her ‘unwanted’ gifts.

- BY PAUL BRITTON

Phil Appleton, 71, who stalked actress Anna Friel for nearly three years

Phil Appleton, 71, was handed a restraining order of 15 years and a community order of 24 months last Thursday after he sent Rochdale-born Ms Friel numerous messages and visited her home address on several occasions, during which he would ‘blow kisses’ and ‘mouth ‘I love you” at the house's CCTV cameras.

He also left gifts including empty packs of cigarettes, between January 1, 2022, and December 11, 2024, a court heard.

Appleton asked his friends for advice on how to draft his messages to Ms Friel as he was ‘fearful of being accused of being a stalker and a weirdo’ because of his history of mental health issues, Judge Alan Blake, sentencing at Reading Crown Court, told the hearing.

The 49-year-old actress did not appear in person, but a statement from her was read out. In it she said: “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 feel very threatened and as though I have to look over my shoulder all the time.”