Lily Allen stalker needs help, not jail, says his family

Crime: Perth man who pursued singer awaits sentence but ‘must get treatment’

A man who stalked singer Lily Allen for seven years “needs help, not jail”, according to his family.

Alex Gray, from Perth, is awaiting sentence after being convicted earlier this month of burglary and harassment.

The 30-year-old started pursuing the star by sending abusive rants and accusations in letters, but progressed to banging on her door and spending nights in her back garden.

He was eventually charged by police after an incident last October when the singer awoke in the early hours to find someone wrenching at her bedroom door.

Allen has said she was made to feel like a “nuisance rather than a victim” by police, adding that the experience had left her “a changed person”.

Demanding answers from police, she said she was not angry with Gray and claimed “the system has failed him”.

The opinion was echoed by Gray’s mother, Michelle, who has described how she had tried to get help for her son from authorities for years.

Speaking on the Good Morning Britain programme, she said: “I had no idea that he had been stalking Lily Allen and putting her through these years of torture.

“We knew he had a fixation with her but not that he had actually been anywhere near her. We just thought he had a fantasy in his head.”

She added: “We knew he had a mental disorder and he had been diagnosed with paranoid delusional schizophrenia two years ago and he was meant to be on medication for this, but nobody was ensuring that that was happening.

“It escalated after his dad died. He got worse and we knew he was getting worse. We tried to get him help and nobody would help us at all.”

His sister Kaylie Gray said: “I don’t think it’s going to be good for either party – for Alex, for us, for her (Allen) – if he just goes to prison because he’s not going to get any help.

“He’s just going to continue to get worse and then he’s going to get released without any help and we are just back to square one again.”

In an interview with The Observer, Allen said: “Until he gets the right treatment and the right help he needs, then I’m not safe.”

A Metropolitan Police spokesman would not comment on Allen’s case but said they take stalking and harassment “extremely seriously”.

He’s just going to continue to get worse and then he’s going to get released without any help and we are just back to square one again. KAYLIE GRAY