A woman who stalked a Brighton and Hove Albion football player and two other Premier League players has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Orla Melissa Sloan, 22, who called herself Devil Baby on Instagram, used 21 phone numbers to stalk the Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount for four months last year.
Sloan stalked his team-mate Ben Chilwell last October and, for almost two months from early September, she targeted Billy Gilmour, who came to Brighton from Chelsea on loan.
Scotland midfielder Gilmour, 22, said that her messages had a “huge impact” on his life after he joined Brighton from the London club last September.
The court was told that she first messaged him saying that she thought that they should be in a relationship but he did not want contact to continue and told her so.
The messages became more threatening and in one she said: “I will hunt you down, Orla x.”
She then began messaging his friends and family. One of the messages said: “This is very serious what Billy is doing to me.”
Some messages had religious references and they became more “erratic” over time, the court was told.
She even messaged his aunt to tell her that the footballer “is a bad, bad boy” and that “he slept with me and never, never spoke to me again”.
Gilmour said in a victim impact statement: “I have not been able to sleep and have had to take sleeping tablets.
“It’s had a negative effect on my performance and professional life.
“Being in a new town where I don’t have my friends or family, it’s really upsetting.”
Sloan also claimed to have fallen pregnant in allegations described at an earlier hearing as “completely fictitious”.
He added: “I don’t know who I can trust any more. Some of the information would only have been known by people close to me.”
Sloan, described as a TikTok and Instagram influencer, started to bombard Mason Mount with messages after a one-night stand.
At Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Sloan was described as “addicted to social media”.
The bench was told that she had slept with Mount after they met at a party at his England team-mate Ben Chilwell’s home in November 2020.
Dmytro Palamarchuk, prosecuting, said that the pair had stayed in touch for around six months before Mount said that he “did not intend to remain in contact” with her.
The prosecutor said: “The defendant went out and obtained 20 phone numbers which she used to keep bombarding Mason Mount with messages.
“Mason Mount kept blocking the phone numbers but they simply kept coming.
“The nature of the messages would be quite random and erratic from the defendant.
“Initially, the defendant implied that she just wanted to talk to Mason Mount … and that she will not bother him afterwards.
“Since he didn’t reply the messages became more and more menacing.”
In one she said: “You and Ben will be destroyed. Beware of Devil Baby Mason. I can morph at any second.”
The prosecutor said that Sloan tagged the star in Instagram posts which included collages of photos of the player with other women.
She also called the player a “criminal” and “spread lies” about him to his friends and family, the court heard.
One message showed an Apple account buying a new number for £12.99 with the words: “I’m not buying food any more so I can get more numbers. I will be faster than you.”
Mount was “concerned she had an obsession or fixation with him and he didn’t know what she was capable of”, the court heard.
He said in a victim impact statement: “Miss Sloan knows roughly where I live and where I train.
“I’m worried as if she is unable to contact me, she might turn up at my training centre.”
The court heard other messages were aimed at professional footballers, friends and family members, including Chilwell, 26. He told how he found Sloan’s behaviour “erratic”.
In mitigation, her lawyer Michael Cogan said that she had been “naive” in not realising that any relationship with Mount was not going to progress, adding that she was remorseful and had not contacted them since.
He added: “There was shortly after that party, certainly on the same evening, a short sexual relationship.
“Unfortunately, Sloan thought there was rather more to it than that. She is … incredibly naive.
“She is addicted to social media. She has been sucked into a world where instant gratification is achieved only by being seen with rather more successful people.
“She is obsessed with the way she looks and how she thinks other people view her.”
Sloan, from Exeter, showed little visible emotion as she sat in the dock wearing a black top over a white dress and heavy make up.
She spoke only to confirm her name, date of birth, address and to say “yes” when asked if she understood her sentence.
Sloan had been warned at a hearing last month that she faced jail after she admitted stalking Mount and Gilmour and causing harassment to Chilwell.
The presiding magistrate Alison Gowman said that Sloan had engaged in “sustained and deliberate attempts to harass and stalk” the footballers but she was spared prison.
Her 12-week prison term was suspended for 18 months and she must complete 30 rehabilitation days plus 200 hours of unpaid work.
She must also pay Gilmour £500, Mount and Chilwell £300 each plus £85 prosecution costs and a £154 victim surcharge.
She was also banned from contacting the players for five years.
