LONDON: A social media influencer bombarded Premier League star Mason Mount with messages in a four-month stalking campaign after he broke off their relationship, a court heard on Wednesday.
Orla Melissa Sloan, 21, pleaded guilty to stalking the Chelsea midfielder and his former teammate Billy Gilmour as well as harassing fellow Blues star Ben Chilwell at a London magistrates' court.
The court heard she slept with Mount after they met at a party at his England teammate Chilwell's home in November 2020.
Prosecutor Jason Seetal said they stayed in contact for around six months before Mount “decided that the relationship was not going to progress”.
“Upon informing Miss Sloan of this he has been subjected to a bombardment of messages,“ he said. “He began asking her to stop messaging him before blocking the number.
“He then began to receive messages from new numbers and each time he would block those numbers there would be messages from a different number.”
Seetal said a total of 21 different numbers were used to contact Mount.
The court heard that in one message from an Instagram account using the name “Devil Baby”, she said: “I can morph at any time so let me apologise and set things right.”
She also said: “I’m not buying food anymore so I can get more numbers. I will be faster than you.”
Seetal said Chelsea midfielder Mount, 24, was “concerned she had an obsession or fixation with him and he didn’t know what she was capable of”.
In a statement Mount said: “Miss Sloane knows roughly where I live and where I train. I’m worried as if she is unable to contact me she might turn up at my training centre.”
The court heard other messages were aimed at professional footballers, friends and family members, including left-back Chilwell.
The court heard that Scotland midfielder Gilmour, who joined Brighton from Chelsea in September, had initially exchanged messages with Sloan before telling her he did not want their contact to continue and did not have a relationship with her.
But she claimed to have become pregnant in allegations described in court as “completely fictitious”.
Sloan pleaded guilty to causing “serious alarm or distress” by stalking Gilmour and admitted stalking Mount as well as causing harassment to Chilwell.
District Judge Neeta Minhas adjourned sentencing to June 20 for reports to be prepared, saying Sloan could face a prison term.
She was granted unconditional bail. - AFP
