Sentencing adjourned for man who stalked actress Claire Foy

A judge has adjourned the sentencing of Claire Foy’s stalker after the court was sent a letter warning he would continue to write to the Crown star.

US citizen Jason Penrose, 49, was slapped with a stalking protection order in July after sending the actress, 38, thousands of emails and turning up at her door.

Last month he pleaded guilty to stalking Foy, who played the young Queen in the first two series of the hit Netflix show, between August 2021 and February this year.

Penrose also admitted two charges of breaching an interim stalking ban order by sending a letter and a parcel to the Golden Globe winner.

He was due to be sentenced on Thursday at Wood Green Crown Court, which had received a letter described as “jottings and scribblings on a piece of paper” by Judge David Aaronberg KC, who said it was “not a threatening document”.

But he said it was written by someone with “some sort of obsession with Ms Foy and they are likely to write again on occasion although will not persist in ringing her doorbell”.

The court heard Penrose, who has been held in hospital for mental health treatment for almost a year, denies sending the letter.

He said from the dock: “They’ve spelt my name wrong.”

Prosecutor Nicki Roberson said the note was an “aggravating factor” in the case and the judge said he may need to make a decision on who wrote it before sentencing Penrose.

“It leads me to the conclusion that if he stops taking his medication, he is likely to start becoming a pest again and he does not necessarily mean to be a pest, I can see that, but he has got an unhealthy obsession with Ms Foy and he can’t stop trying to contact her,” he said.

“It would be wrong to say he has intended, at any point, to cause physical harm to Ms Foy.”

He adjourned the case to January 20, seeking further assurances that Penrose, who is in the UK illegally, will be deported following sentencing.