Christine Lampard’s stalker Christof King smiled as he entered court today. He later walked free on a suspended sentence
Christine Lampard’s stalker has swerved a jail term after he turned up at her house and bombarded her with threatening messages.
Christof King sent tweets including ‘I can hear the scratch of nails as I sharpen them ahead of your crucifixion’ and ‘I can see the inscription on your tombstone’.
The 39-year-old also sent letters and turned up at her house on more than one occasion, causing her to hide in a bedroom with the housekeeper.
His messages began as ‘incoherent waffle’, but soon became ‘sinister’ which made her ‘sit up and pay attention’, the court heard.
Despite his hate campaign, he was given a nine-month sentence, suspended for two years, at Isleworth Crown Court today.
Loose Women host Christine, 39, previously told how her mother tracked her on her iPhone to ensure she was safe while King was on bail.
She told the Sunday Mirror: ‘She can keep track of everything I’m doing.. I’m 39, if I stay out late, she knows about it and where I’ve been. She’s always asking why I stayed out so late.’
Pregnant Christine, pictured (left) today and (right) with her footballer husband Frank, hid behind her sofa when King went to her house
She said she made a mental note of King’s Twitter picture and shared it with her footballer husband Frank, also 39.
‘Thankfully I don’t get threatening messages and that’s why these stood out,’ she said in a statement to court.
‘The tweets were so disturbing, to the extent that I showed it to my husband as well and shared my concerns. I wanted to make sure I memorised his face. I felt very uneasy with the letters. Incredibly odd.’
King from Brent, north-west London, previously admitted stalking the star.
Sentencing King, who changed his name by deed poll from Jon Dunningham in April 2016, Judge Johnson said today: ‘Those in the public eye are used to receiving contact from strangers.
‘But they, like anyone else, are entitled to protection from the law when some contact moves from simply irritation to being criminal.’
Christine and Frank Lampard leave a previous hearing of the case at Isleworth Crown Court
Judge Johnson said the stalking and harassment lasted over a long period of time and that he must have known both Christine and Frank Lampard wanted him stop contacting them.
‘You are responsible for sending her very nasty communications which would have upset anyone, and aggravated that offending by visiting her home address,’ he added.
King had disputed sending the messages online, but after a Newton hearing on the matter of the tweets, Judge Robin Johnson ruled on June 5 at Isleworth Crown Court that King did indeed send tweets to Lampard.
He said: ‘There is clear evidence that he has delusional tendencies. In my judgment I accept that Mrs Lampard is truthful and accurate.
‘I accept that she received tweets from Christ-of-King in 2015 and that these included some very nasty remarks.’
The judge said he would consider Lampard’s assessment of the tweets – which she described as ‘dark’ – an understatement.
King will be sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday afternoon.