'THREATENED AND SHOCKED'

HORROR ORDEAL Anna Friel was hounded in her home

- BY DAN WARBURTON

A STALKER turned up at actress Anna Friel's house wearing a dinner jacket and invited her to a ball during a terrifying three-year campaign of harassment.

Ms Friel, 49, told a court that she felt “threatened and shocked” after former airline pilot Phil Appleton, 71, bombarded her with sexual messages, a court heard.

Disturbing CCTV cameras captured him blowing kisses and mouthing ‘I love you’ outside her home.

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

Appleton asked his friends for advice on how to draft his messages 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 told the hearing. Ms Friel, famous for her TV roles in Brookside and Pushing Daisies, did not appear in person.