A MAN who stalked actress Brooke Kinsella and told her they were going to get
married was jailed for six months yesterday.
Paul Mason, 44, bombarded the ex-EastEnders star with letters and texts and
contacted her on Facebook and Twitter.
He showered the sister of murdered Ben Kinsella with gifts of perfume and
called her “Pumpkin”.
He even went to the grave of Ben, who was stabbed to death at the age of 16 by
a gang in Islington, North London, in 2008.
His creepy messages included “You will be my wife” and “I will be coming down
Saturday to see you and the kids.”
Mason was convicted in November for stalking.
When he was arrested on April 10 last year, cops found a poster of Brooke on
his bedroom wall and a series of hand-written love letters on his bed.
Mason, of Catford, South-East London, has four previous convictions for
harassment, Bexley magistrates heard
Brooke – who played Kelly Taylor in Albert Square from 2001 to 2004 – froze
when he turned up at a Ben Kinsella Trust anti-knife day last year.
She recalled during the trial: “It really frightened me.
“He hugged me and said he had presents for me. I didn’t look at the presents.
I just wanted to get out.
“The whole thing was escalating. That was what worried me the most.”
Sentencing him yesterday, magistrate Alan Dee told him: “Mr Mason you
understand you did not plead guilty to this offence and therefore we needed
to have a trial.
“But of course in the process of a trial the victim needed to relieve the
memory of offences when coming to court to give evidence.
“We have taken into account the previous history of harassing individuals.
“We have also concluded that you have been calculating in your conduct.
“The court will know the maximum sentence we can impose is 26 weeks.
“For the non-violent nature of these types of offences the range is usually 12
weeks.
“However, we have to take into account other evidence, we have to take into
account the prolonged nature of this offence and the impact on Miss
Kinsella.
“Your previous record is not good and there are four previous harassment
convictions since 2008.
“On that basis, we have concluded that the period of custody we must impose
today is the full 26 weeks.”
Mason was also slapped with a restraining order.