Man who stalked Raducanu & stole her dad's shoe handed restraining order

A stalker who walked 23 miles to the home of British tennis star Emma Raducanu, taking her father's shoe as a souvenir, has been handed a five-year restraining order.

Amrit Magar, 35, left the 19-year-old US Open champion feeling her "freedom has been taken away and constantly looking over her shoulder", Bromley Magistrates' Court heard.

The former delivery driver, from Harrow, north-east London, turned up three times at Raducanu's south-east London home, once decorating a tree in the front garden with Christmas lights and leaving other decorations in a gift bag on her porch.

He also left a bouquet of flowers with a note reading "nothing to say but you deserve love", and posted a card including a hand-drawn map to show the "23 miles" he had walked from his home to the British No 1's address.

Magar, originally from Nepal, was arrested after Raducanu's father Ian was alerted to his presence by a doorbell camera, noticed a trainer he had left in the porch was missing, then followed him in his car.

Magar told officers he had been "drawn" to Raducanu "because of her high-profile status after her victory in the US Open" and had taken the shoe believing it belonged to her as a "souvenir".

He was last month found guilty of stalking between November 1 and December 4 after a trial and on Wednesday was handed a five-year restraining order by District Judge Sushil Kumar.

The order bans him from contacting Raducanu or her parents, coming within a mile of their street and attending any sports ground, stadium or training facility where she is in competition or attending to train.

He was also sentenced to an 18-month community order, including 200 hours of unpaid work and an eight-week curfew between 9pm and 6am monitored by an