Vanessa Mae's stalker walks free
Violinist Vanessa Mae's stalker has walked away from court a free man today, despite being sentenced to six months in jail for breaking a restraining order.
David Martin had been obsessed with the musician for 10 years - plaguing her with letters and tracking her movements in London - but the 56-year-old has escaped further imprisonment, because he's already served the length of his sentence on remand.
The District Judge at West London Magistrates' Court, Justin Phillips, has imposed the longest sentence he could for Martin's "flagrant" breach of a court order.
He also warned him he faces five years in jail if he again breaks the restraining order, which was issued in December 2003 under the Protection Against Harassment Act.
Martin was first arrested last October when he was found with a knife outside the star's home. The unemployed hospital engineer from Brighton, West Sussex, England, kept a diary of her movements between her two homes in west London and followed her while she walked her dog.
He was taken into custody again earlier this year after Mae's boyfriend Lionel Catalan spotted Martin outside the pop star's home.
