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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Connie Dimsdale

Woman, 33, guilty of stalking ex-coworker lurking outside Whitehall skips court hearing

A besotted ex-civil servant who was convicted of stalking a former colleague and camping out in Whitehall hoping to meet him has refused to attend her sentence hearing - for the second time.

Economist Ray Israel-Wilkinson, 33, declared her love for Alex Wilkinson after working with him at the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport.

Senior civil servant Alex Wilkinson said he felt "violated" after he was stalked by his ex-colleague, who refers to herself as "Wilko's Ray" on her Twitter account.

A member of the court mental health team said: “She's been seen by a psychiatrist in the prison and in a conversation between court psychiatrists here and psychiatrist based in custody, it's basically looking like she is quite unwell and potentially not well enough to take part in proceedings.

“She has refused the last couple of times to take part in the court process.”

Israel-Wilkinson, who is currently detained in HMP Bronzefield, refused to attend the sentencing at Westminster Magistrates' Court via video-link.

A letter from a prison official said: “She flat out refused, she didn't give a reason - just that she didn't want to”.

She had also refused to attend the hearing on the link from prison on Monday.

Jennifer Gatland, prosecuting, had said she sat outside the department's Parliament Street office on May 27, last year, with a homemade placard which said: "Waiting for my Wilko".

Ms Gatland said: “This caused significant distress for Mr Wilkinson who had to change his routine, entrances and so forth.

“The defendant has also created social media pages claiming they are married and declaring her love for him.

“It seems she has also changed her name from Rayner Sultan to Ray-Israel-Wilkinson to give the impression they are married."

Israel-Wilkinson refers to herself as “Wilko's Ray” on her Twitter profile and calls him her king: “Alexander Wilkinson is my King (Wilko's Ray)”.

Mr Wilkinson told the court last month she began to contact him shortly after leaving the department and insisted on meeting with him face-to-face.

“I wasn't comfortable because we didn't have any meaningful relationship,” said Mr Wilkinson.

“She is a former colleague. I felt quite violated.

"She was writing about how she was in love with me and insinuating that we'd had some romantic connection when we hadn't.”

When Mr Wilkinson looked her up on social media, he found a Twitter page with 5,000 followers where she claimed GCHQ was trying to stop them from being together.

The bio on the account reads: “Please help my @alexwilko85 contact me. He is forced by evil souls to ostracise me.

"He loves me as much as I love him. My Wilko is unhappy. Please.”

Israel-Wilkinson has a second Twitter account with a pinned tweet of 104 love songs dedicated to Mr Wilkinson.

There are also LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram accounts dedicated to her obsession.

“The LinkedIn account was a professional account but at some point she changed it to talk about me,” said Mr Wilkinson.

“She set up Twitter to talk about her conversion from Islam to Judaism. Facebook and Instagram I believe were set up solely to talk about me.”

At the time, she began turning up at the Whitehall office she was also sending Mr Wilkinson emails saying that she was homeless and describing her experiences.

“She talked about being assaulted in train stations, she talked about gangs that had been pursuing her doing weird stuff,” said Mr Wilkinson.

“There was a gang trying to turn people into cute dogs. I was increasingly worried.

“It was quite difficult because you could see she was clearly in a bad mental state.”

“It's difficult to see someone who is suffering and associating that with you and you can't really do anything to help them.”

Israel-Wilkinson was arrested for harassing Mr Wilkinson but continued to sit outside the office despite bail conditions prohibiting her with banners and placards saying: “This is not a protest. Waiting for my Wilko.”

In August 2021, she was sectioned and taken to hospital where she continued to email Mr Wilkinson.

Israel-Wilkinson's LinkedIn profile states: “Alex Wilkinson is my King (Mrs.. Wilkinson)

“Wife of Alex Wilkinson. Economist. The spooks spy on me as a person of "intelligence value" so I've stopped being intelligent until they return my husband to me.

"Until then, I'm offline so I will NOT READ your messages.”

Israel-Wilkinson, of Milton Keynes, denied stalking Mr Wilkinson, between June 16, 2021, and October 20, 2021.

She did not attend her trial last month and was convicted in her absence by District Judge Timothy Godfrey who issued a warrant for her arrest.

Sentencing was adjourned until March 10 when a psychiatrist is likely to attend, amid concerns that jail is not necessarily the right place for her to be.

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