Stalker who threatened to kill BBC commentator is jailed for two years

A WOMAN who stalked a television commentator and Olympian for 11 years has been jailed.

Susan Maynard, 51, only met former badminton star Gillian Clark once before she started stalking her and threatening to kill her.

Now, Maynard has been jailed for breaching a restraining order nine times after a judge ruled her victim deserved some respite from the misery inflicted upon her.

Sending her to prison for two years, Judge Mark Bury told Maynard: "You are making her life a complete misery. She regards herself as being stalked and let down by the authorities.

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"It is easy to see why she might well think that given the orders imposed on you in the past. This has gone on for 11 years and it has got to stop."

Hull Crown Court heard Miss Clark, a former Great Britain badminton player and Olympic quarter-finalist, only briefly met Maynard once in 2001.

The BBC commentator had employed a gardener and Maynard had accompanied him to Miss Clark's home in Kent.

The next day, Maynard began bombarding her with abusive calls, eventually threatening to kill her.

Maynard told her victim she would "haunt" her and call every phone box she ever walked past.

Despite being given a restraining order in 2002, banning her from Kent and being jailed for 12 months in 2010, Maynard has continued to breach the order, plaguing Miss Clark, 51, with calls from her home in New Road, Hornsea.

This year, she breached the restraining order three times by calling Miss Clark and leaving silent messages on her answer phone. In one message, she sighed and said "Oh God".

In a victim statement read to the court, Miss Clark says she felt vulnerable.

She said: "The comments made by Maynard at previous hearings saying she will abide by the restraining order have been hollow and meaningless.

"I have never known her and she is not my friend.

"I feel I am being stalked and I feel vulnerable and frustrated by the way the authorities have dealt with her case previously. It has gone on for 11 years. The calls are deeply distressing."

Judge Bury said the only way to stop Maynard harassing Miss Clark was to send her to prison.

He said: "I have a duty to punish you for these acts of harassment which are totally debilitating to your victim who is distressed by it all. You simply have to stop it.

"I have to impose a sentence of imprisonment which will protect Gillian Clark and bring home to you that you simply cannot do this sort of thing any more."

Maynard has been jailed for two years after she pleaded guilty to harassment and breaching a restraining order. Her barrister Paul Genney said: "For whatever reason, she remains deluded. They have only met once technically in 2001.

"Following her release from prison, she refrained from contacting her for over a year but she accepts it has started again.

"In many ways, Maynard is a shy, retiring and refined lady."

Even in her presentence report, Maynard told probation officers Miss Clark was her "friend".

Judge Bury has given her an indefinite restraining order and has warned her she will face more time behind bars if she continues to stalk her victim.

He said: "If you contact Gillian Clark in any way in the future, you will be recalled to serve all of the sentence and then there will be something else.

"At 51 years old, you have no business contacting Miss Clark."