A 35-year-old man who was found guilty of stalking British tennis star Emma Raducanu, visiting her London home before mistakenly taking her father’s shoes as a souvenir, has been handed a five-year restraining order.
Amrit Magar left the 19-year-old U.S. Open champion feeling her "freedom has been taken away and constantly looking over her shoulder,” Bromley Magistrates’ Court heard Wednesday.
The former delivery driver, from Harrow, north-east London, turned up three times at the world No. 12’s south-east London home, once decorating a tree in the front garden with Christmas lights and leaving other decorations in a gift bag on her porch.
He also left a bouquet of flowers with a note reading "nothing to say but you deserve love,” and posted a card including a hand-drawn map to show the "23 miles” he had walked from his home to the British number one’s address.
Magar, originally from Nepal, was arrested after Raducanu’s father Ian was alerted to his presence by a doorbell camera, noticed a trainer he had left on the porch was missing, then followed him in his car.
Magar told officers he had been "drawn” to Raducanu "because of her high-profile status after her victory in the U.S. Open” and had taken the shoe believing it belonged to her as a "souvenir.”
He was last month found guilty of stalking between Nov. 1 and Dec. 4 after a trial and on Wednesday was handed a five-year restraining order.
The order bans him from contacting Raducanu or her parents, coming within a mile of their street and attending any sports ground, stadium, or training facility where she is in competition or attending to train.
He was also sentenced to an 18-month community order, including 200 hours of unpaid work and an eight-week evening and night curfew monitored by an electronic tag.
