Actress Anna Friel has told a court she was left feeling ‘threatened and shocked’ by a man who stalked her for nearly three years, once even turning up to her house in a dinner jacket and telling her to accompany him to a ball.

Phil Appleton, 71, was handed a restraining order of 15 years and a community order of 24 months on Thursday after he sent Ms Friel numerous messages and visited her home address on several occasions during which he would ‘blow kisses’ and ‘mouth “I love you”’ at the house’s CCTV cameras.

He also left ‘unwanted’ gifts including empty packs of cigarettes, between January 1 2022 and December 11 2024, a court heard.

He asked his friends for advice on how to draft his messages to the Marcella actor as he was ‘fearful of being accused of being a stalker and a weirdo’

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