Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Rio will pay.. he wants me looking good
Stalker hires star’s trainer, court told
AN obsessed woman who stalked Rio Ferdinand is facing jail after breaching a ban on contacting him.
Susan Okoya, 44, was jailed for 10 weeks and given a 10-year restraining order in May 2011 after the ex-england and Manchester United star said he feared for his family when she turned up at his home.
But she then hired his celebrity trainer Mel Deane, who after their first session on May 2 sent a text to ask if she wanted another, a court heard.
One reply said: “I think you are going to have to ask Rio to pay for the sessions.” Another said: “LOL he will pay it because he wants me looking good for him.”
Giving evidence, Mr Deane said Okoya booked sessions as Susanna Ibru. He told Camberwell magistrates court, South London: “I thought maybe she fancied him or something. I thought she was trying to be funny.”
Okoya also tacked on to the end of a text: “By the way how is Rio?”
Mr Deane said she claimed to know RUN-DMC creator Joseph Simmons. He told Mr Ferdinand and the court heard when arrested on June 13 she said: “I’m supposed to be meeting Ferdinand tomorrow. He’s going to find this hilarious.”
In a statement, dadof-three Rio, 39, said: “I find it disturbing as I do not want anything to do with this female and I just want to not have to look day-to-day over my shoulder.”
Okoya, who denies the offence, failed to appear in court and the judge issued a warrant for her arrest. She first breached the order in 2012 by attending the football star and his late wife Rebecca’s address in Macclesfield, Cheshire, and was jailed for 18 weeks.