Art gallery boss stalked ex-lover to a Sydney beach
A MAYFAIR art gallery boss flew all the way to Australia to continue stalking his ex-girlfriend.
Jan Navratil, 35, turned up on a beach in Sydney, where Sophie Davis was on holiday.
The confrontation followed a campaign that included seizing her passport and sending a selfie of him wearing her T-shirt.
Navratil, shipping and bond manager at the Halcyon Gallery, was banned from seeing Miss Davis and will have to wear an electronic ankle tag for three months after admitting stalking.
He struggled to cope when he and Miss Davis, a veterinary nurse, broke up after a six-month relationship, a court heard.
She told police his actions had left her unable to sleep and she felt she was always looking over her shoulder. The couple started dating in July after meeting on the internet and Miss Davis, who is originally from Australia, moved in with Czech-born Navratil while recovering from an operation.
She broke up with him in December and moved into a hotel, but while she was leaving he took her passport as ‘a bargaining tool’ so he would have an excuse to see her again.
Dami Eniola, prosecuting, told Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court: ‘ Four hours later she started receiving messages that he was going to kill himself.
‘She later sent a picture of himself wearing her clothing. When she attended a medical appointment she received a picture of the building and a message from him saying, “I feel close to you”.’
The couple had booked the 10,000-mile trip to Australia when they were still together, although they were due to travel a week apart. But when Miss Davis got to the airport, he was waiting for her.
Miss Eniola said that on March 2 Miss Davis went to the beach in Sydney and saw Navratil walking along the path towards her. She confronted him, but he pretended he did not see her.
Navratil also went into her Facebook account daily to read her messages. Miss Eniola told the court: ‘Back in the UK she received multiple messages that he wanted to be with her and on April 3 he boarded her bus as she travelled to work. He tried to sit next to her.’
Danielle Burns, defending, said: ‘When she went to Australia he thought he was not going to see her again and it was too tempting not to check up on what she was doing in Australia.’
Navratil, of Colliers Wood, southwest London, was given a fourmonth community order, which includes wearing a tag for three months and obeying a curfew between 9pm and 6am.
He was also made subject to an indefinite restraining order banning any contact with Miss Davis.