Cabaret singer stalked by the veteran soldier she dumped
A FORMER soldier stalked a cabaret singer known as The Veterans’ Sweetheart after he refused to accept their two- year relationship was over.
Ex-Royal Engineer Alan Willetts, 61, hounded Sarah Dennis, confronting her at her gym and at a venue where she was due to perform, a court heard.
Willetts also tracked Miss Dennis, 50, in his car and bombarded her with unwanted phone calls. The singer, who had helped him win a place in a choir for sick or wounded soldiers and forces veterans, reported him to police after he accused her of assault and left voicemails threatening to harm her career.
Willetts, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, was banned from having any contact with Miss Dennis for two years by Manchester magistrates after he admitted stalking her over a six-week period. He is not allowed to visit any theatre on the day she is performing there.
The pair began a relationship in March 2016 and started singing together at veterans’ charity events, the court heard. Miss Dennis encouraged Willetts, a divorcee from Tottington, near Bury, to audition for the Invictus Games Choir at Catterick Barracks, in North Yorkshire.
He won a place in the tenor section of the choir, originally put together by TV choirmaster Banning order: Alan Willetts Gareth Malone, and had been due to sing at the opening ceremony of Prince Harry’s Invictus Games in Florida in 2016 but was not well enough to go.
The couple fell out and split in February but continued to do charity work together. They briefly rekindled their relationship in June. However, Miss Dennis became ‘increasingly distressed’ by Willetts’ persistence and involvement in her life, said prosecutor Andrew Martin.
Following a text argument, Miss Dennis blocked his number but in August Willetts confronted her at a pub in Bolton, where she was due to perform the following day. He claimed he was there by coin- cidence and early the next day left a voicemail demanding that Miss Dennis apologise for the way she had spoken to him. He said he would contact the pub and make a complaint about her if she refused.
Four days later, Miss Dennis went to her gym in Bury at 7.45am, Mr Martin said.
‘She went to the sauna, then went to the shower in the public area near to the plunge pool and the defendant arrived and stood in front of her.
‘He was particularly upset with her response from the previous occasion. Another customer got involved and the defendant was removed.
‘He left her a voicemail saying he had contacted the police and reported an assault. He then left a further voicemail saying her gym membership was terminated. She believed he was trying to ruin her business.’
In a statement under her real name, Denise Roscoe, Miss Dennis said: ‘The constant stream of messages and contact from Alan has caused me harassment and distress. I want him to leave me alone and stop contacting me ever again.’
Willetts was also given a 12-month community order and fined £135 with £ 125 costs. Stephen Munton, defending, told the court that after the relationship finished, Willetts ‘found himself in a lost position with his mental health – he wanted to have contact with Miss Roscoe’.
‘I want him to leave me alone’