An oddball stalker who bombarded TV’s Christine Lampard with “sinister” messages and showed up at her house has been banned from ever contacting her or her ex footballer husband again.
Wannabe actor Christof King, 39, made the presenter’s life “a misery” during a sustained campaign of harassment which lasted nearly three years.
King showed up at the £11million home the former One Show presenter shares with her football manager husband Frank Lampard and even sent her tweets about “sharpening nails for her crucifiction”.
King also penned a “bizarre” letter to the couple’s pet dog, Minnie in which said he thought he’d developed a “special bond” with the pet.
The pregnant Loose Women star said the ordeal left her so scared her mum now uses a mobile app to track her movements.
In another tweet, King wrote: “I’m planning the words that will go on your gravestone.”
He was handed a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, at Isleworth Crown Court.
A restraining order also banned King from contacting either Christine or Frank Lampard, sending letters to them, or going within 100 yards of their home.
Judge Robin Johnson said: “You affected the way she conducted herself and have caused her wholly unnecessary anxiety and distress.
“Those in the public eye are no doubt used to receiving contact from strangers, but they, like anyone else, are entitled to the protection of the law when contact moves from being simply irritation to being criminal.”
King, of Brent, north west London, pleaded guilty to stalking and was also found to have sent her menacing tweets. He had initially denied sending the tweets.
Grey-haired King, who appeared in the dock wearing a black suit, white shirt and tie, listened intently as he was sentenced.
Judge Johnson said the stalking lasted a “long period of time”, adding: “For whatever reason you’re responsible for sending her some very nasty communications which would have upset anyone.
“You aggravated your offending by visiting their home address.”
Warwick Tatford, prosecuting, said the campaign of abuse, from January 2015 to October 2017, included “12 to 15” tweets sent over a two-month period.
He said: “They ranged in tone, some of them threatening, others affectionate and others simply incoherent, suggesting she had done a good job at work.”
Mr Tatford said King then began sending letters to Mrs Lampard, including one in which he said he was “Christ of Kings”.
In January 2017 he went to the Lampards’ home and told the housekeeper he was Christof King wanted “face to face contact”.
Mr Tatford said: “Frank Lampard assumed the visitor was a football colleague called Christof and went to the door.”
He said Mrs Lampard was behind her husband when he opened the door, adding: “She immediately realised he was the man who had tweeted her.”
After a brief conversation in which King said he was writing a book about “synchronicity” which featured the Lampards, he “appeared to become frustrated”.
The prosecutor said: “The defendant’s body language changed, he was no longer in a relaxed manner, he appeared to be angry.
“This conversation went on for about three or four minutes and the defendant constantly wanted to speak to Christine Lampard about the book.
“Frank Lampard, who showed considerable patience and tact in the course of this, decided he had enough and told the defendant firmly to leave.”
In another letter, addressed to the couple’s dog, King said: “I was so please to finally meet you yesterday morning after so many years seeing your picture in the papers.
“I really do feel we developed a special king of bond in that moment and I would love to do it again some time.”
The prosecutor said the letter was “quite frankly bizarre, speaking as if Minnie could speak to the defendant”.
Judge Johnson said: “She said that she never goes out on her own and would make sure the gate shut behind her car before she got out.”
John Oliver, in mitigation, said: “He wants the court to know, and Mrs Lampard to know, that he has received the message loud and clear: there is no desire for any contact from him at all.”
King was also made subject to a rehabilitation community order, and told to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.