A 35-year-old man has been convicted of stalking the tennis player Emma Raducanu.
Amrit Magar was convicted at Bromley magistrates court on Friday and will be sentenced next month.
The court heard how Magar, a former Amazon delivery driver, visited Raducanu’s home three times and stole one of her father’s shoes as a “souvenir”. He tracked down the US Open champion’s London home address and left notes, flowers and Christmas decorations, according to the Daily Mail.
In a statement to the court, Raducanu, 19, said the ordeal had left her feeling afraid to go out alone. “Since all this has happened I have felt creeped out. I feel very apprehensive if I go out, especially if I am on my own,” she said in a statement reported by the Mail.
“Because of this I feel like my freedom has been taken away from me. I am constantly looking over my shoulder. I feel on edge and worried this could happen again. I don’t feel safe in my own home, which is where I should feel safest.”
Magar, from Edgware, north London, discovered Raducanu’s address by travelling to the London suburb where she lives with her parents and asking people for directions. He then left her messages, including a map he had drawn showing the distance he had walked from north London to her address, with a note attached reading: “23 miles walked 4 you.”
On Magar’s last visit to the property in early December, he decorated a tree in the front garden with Christmas lights and stole a shoe belonging to Raducanu’s father from the porch, believing it to belong to the tennis player. He was caught by Ian Raducanu, who recognised him from previous visits and followed him by car while calling the police.
After being arrested with the shoe in his bag, Magar, 35, told police he had wanted a souvenir.
The tennis player told police: “I want to move to a new house with better security because I am worried he might come back as he knows where my home is.”
In evidence on Friday, Magar said he was ashamed to learn that his actions had upset Raducanu. The district judge Sushil Kumar said: “His inability to explain how he did not think this was harassment is incapable of belief.”
Magar was bailed on the condition that he does not contact Raducanu or her parents or visit their street.
