Man guilty of stalking tennis star Raducanu
Ex-Amazon delivery driver Amrit Magar will be sentenced at a later date for a stalking campaign of US Open winner, 19-year-old Brit Emma Raducanu, after being found guilty at Bromley Magistrates' Court on Friday.
Raducanu, ranked 18th in the world, told police that she remains nervous to leave her house after being inundated with unwanted notes and gifts from the 35-year-old Magar, who is married.
The court heard that Magar became besotted with Raducanu after watching her compete on television while he was unemployed, and later discovered her home address by asking locals in the area of London she lives with her parents.
He left the tennis star a series of notes, with one saying that she "deserved love" and another providing an illustration of the 23 miles he claims he walked from his home in north London to her residence.
The court was also told that in early December Magar decorated a tree on the Raducanu property with Christmas ornaments and decorations, as well as stealing a tennis shoe from the garden thinking it was Raducanu's - but instead it belonged to her father.
When he was later arrested, Magar was carrying the shoe in a bag and told officers that it was a "memento".
In a victim impact statement which was ready to court, Raducanu detailed exactly how the ordeal has affected her and that it has left her fearful of leaving her house alone.
"Since all this has happened, I have felt creeped out. I feel very apprehensive if I go out, especially if I am on my own," she detailed to officers.
"Because of this I feel like my freedom has been taken away from me. I am constantly looking over my shoulder. I feel on edge and worried this could happen again. I don't feel safe in my own home which is where I should feel safest.
"I want to move to a new house with better security because I am worried he might come back as he knows where my home is."
Speaking to the court on Friday, Magar detailed the "shame" he says he feels for having put the teenage star through such an ordeal - but District Judge Sushil Kumar refuted suggestions that he wasn't aware that what he was doing was illegal, saying: "His inability to explain how he did not think this was harassment is incapable of belief."
Magar is expected to be sentenced in February and was released on bail under strict instruction to not contact Raducanu or her family or to visit the street on which they live.
