I don’t feel safe in my home, says Billie Piper after banned stalker sends her 18-page letter
BILLIE Piper has told a court she ‘does not feel safe’ in her home after receiving an 18-page message from a stalker who had been banned from contacting her.
The actress – who gave birth to her third child, Tallulah, last month – was granted a restraining order against ‘obsessive’ Philip Jerome last year.
Despite this, Jerome, 41, has continued to tweet Miss Piper obsessively, and sent her a Facebook message through her mother and sister.
In the lengthy message, Jerome told Miss Piper, 36, that he was disappointed she had not been in court when he was given the restraining order.
Messages he sent to the star include one telling her, ‘I love you’ on her birthday in September, along with a picture of her as Rose Tyler in Doctor Who.
Jerome has bombarded the actress with tweets for eight years. The first message was sent with a picture of the first time he met her at a signing for her book Growing Pains, taken in 2006.
In September 2016, the stalker said he wished Miss Piper would ‘choose a boring guy like me’ as a boyfriend.
Prosecutor Graham Heath told Southampton Magistrates’ Court yesterday that Jerome had a large collection of newspaper cuttings and pictures of Miss Piper at his home in Eastleigh, Hampshire, which police discovered when they arrested him.
Mr Heath said: ‘On August 23 last year, a Facebook message was sent to two people – Miss Piper’s sister, Harley, and her mother, Mandy Kent.
‘As one might expect, neither of those are friends of his on Facebook – he has researched and found out their identities, and satisfied himself they were their accounts.
‘It was a long message, which runs to some 18 pages. There’s nothing menacing in the letter, I suppose it might well be treated as adoration in other circumstances. He clearly refers to meeting with her at a book signing over a decade ago and there’s some longstanding attraction. There’s some degree of unrealism in relation to the circumstances. He clearly thinks there’s a relationship between them.’
In a statement, Miss Piper said: ‘The letter indicates his disappointment at not seeing me at court. I do not feel safe being at home. I do not believe he would show up and hurt me. However, I don’t know that for sure.’
Jerome admitted harassment by breaching a restraining order. He was ordered to carry out 28 days of rehabilitation to try to stop him becoming obsessed and 100 hours of unpaid work.
Mitigating, Sarah Barnard said: ‘The letter is one of apology and adoration. It is not meant, in any way, to offend. It is misplaced adoration.
‘If he does not get help, he will likely be before a court again – not in relation to Billie Piper, but another person.’