A stalker who hounded Sophie Ellis-Bextor and bombarded her with gifts and abuse has been told he faces criminal prosecution if he contacts her again.
Tax consultant Nishil Patel, 39, was banned from contacting the Murder on the Dancefloor hitmaker for five years, after the City of London Magistrates’ Court heard he sent Sophie hundreds of abusive messages over Instagram.
He also left her more than 30 presents at her neighbour’s home, which he believed to be the singer’s, and on one visit in April, he rang the doorbell and left a sticker on a car before being arrested.
Patel also contacted the singer’s husband, The Feeling guitarist Richard Jones, and one of the couple’s five children online.
One of the abusive messages sent to Sophie included: “F*** you fake c***, blood on your hands, you never put yourselves in my shoes once did you, you flaky privileged b***h.”
He continued to hound the singer even after police had warned him to stop contacting her, the court heard.
After Sophie blocked his account, Patel began to message her under a username which was his name spelled backwards.
Patel also gifted the singer Lego, and a monogrammed 'NP' wallet, which he told Sophie was black 'like your soul'.
The trained accountant is seeking treatment for bipolar, and police said Patel never denied carrying out the campaign of abuse against the mother-of-five, but dismissed it as “a bit of fun”.
The messages began late last year, and continued until April, when he was arrested.
The stalking prevention order which was granted in court on Wednesday means Patel is banned from contacting Sophie for five years, as well as having to inform police if he owns any devices that can connect to the internet, and is required to hand over any passwords to social media accounts.
Patel faces criminal prosecution if he contacts the 42-year-old star directly or through third parties, physically approaches her, or goes to her address.
Prosecutor Felix Keating read out a statement from the singer in court said Patel’s behaviour had ‘really unsettled’ her.
