The Crown star Claire Foy’s obsessed stalker set to be sentenced

Claire Foy’s obsessed stalker who bombarded the actress with thousands of emails and turned up unannounced at her home is due to be sentenced.

Jason Penrose, 49, left The Crown star terrified that he was going to come and kill her and her daughter during a six-month campaign of stalking.

He sent more than 1,000 emails to Foy’s publicist Emma Jackson, a court heard, including one which referred to rape. In December 2021, Penrose turned up at her home and repeatedly rang the doorbell.

Penrose is now due to be sentenced at Wood Green crown court on Friday, having admitted stalking between August 2021 and February 2022 and two charges of breaching an interim stalking ban order by sending a letter and a parcel to the Golden Globe winner.

An earlier court hearing was told Foy, who starred as Queen Elizabeth II in the first two series of The Crown, suffered from sleepless nights as a result of Penrose’s attentions, and begged her film industry colleagues not to tag her in pictures in case Penrose uses them to track her movements.

“Ms Foy has been targeted by Mr Penrose in a sustained, unwanted, fixated and obsessive behaviour that was intrusive due to his delusional beliefs”, said prosecutor Varinder Hayre.

“Mr Penrose was claiming she was interested in him romantically and he did believe she would like to star in a movie he was planning to make.”

The court heard when Penrose knocked on the actress’ door, her daughter answered and he said: “It’s Jason, I’m outside.”

Penrose initially contacted Foy claiming to be a movie producer and pitching a $20million Warner Brothers Studio sci-fi film project. He also tried to contact Foy on LinkedIn and Instagram.

The actress said of the stalking: “His relentless attempts to contact me are so traumatic. Every time I think this is sorted it is not.

“I feel like there is nothing that would stop him being able to contact me, he has affected every aspect of my life.”

Penrose, originally from the USA, was due to be sentenced last year, but the case was delayed after the stalker allegedly sent a letter to Wood Green crown court suggesting he would continue to write to the Crown star.

Judge David Aaronberg KC called it “jottings and scribblings on a piece of paper” and “not a threatening document”, but 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”.

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

The stalker, who is in the UK illegally and has been handed a five-year stalking protection order banning him from contacting the actress, is expected to be deported after he is sentenced.