Stalker sent Christine Lampard 'sinister' tweets, court hears

TV presenter Christine Lampard has described tweets allegedly sent to her by a stalker as “sinister and dark”.

Christof King, 39, from Brent, last week pleaded guilty to stalking, but he disputes the sending of the tweets.

Prosecutor Nicholas Dunham told Isleworth crown court that King sent Lampard tweets with content that ranged “from dark to loving to incoherent”.

King, who asked Lampard for career advice, sent letters and turned up at her house on more than one occasion, which made her hide in a bedroom with the housekeeper.

She said several tweets were “incoherent waffle”, with some tagging her employer, ITV, and her husband. “Several tweets became quite sinister and dark,” she said.

Lampard said these tweets made her pay attention, adding that another reason she noticed King’s tweets was because “there was so many of them”.

One tweet he is alleged to have sent said: “I can hear the scratch of nails as I sharpen them ahead of your crucifixion.”

The court heard another tweet said: “I am planning the words that will go on your gravestone.”

Lampard said she remembered the word “tombstone”, adding that she paid a great deal of attention to his Twitter profile picture. “Because the tweets were so disturbing, to the extent that I showed it to my husband as well and shared my concerns,” she said. “I wanted to make sure I memorised his face,” she told the court.

Lampard said her biggest concern was that she worked predominantly on live TV, so it would not be too difficult to figure out when she would be leaving her workplace.

The presenter was shown other negative tweets sent to her in the past, after she said the vast majority of those she dealt with were “good, nice people”.

On the negative tweets shown to her, she said: “I don’t remember any of those. I don’t remember any of those names. I don’t remember what they look like. But I do remember Mr King.”

She also told King’s lawyer, who had brought up the other negative tweets, that to bring up tweets from 2014 showed he had to look very far back.

Lampard said: “I felt very uneasy with the letters. Incredibly odd. Including one written to my dog ... but it was this sense that he felt a certain destiny to talk to me, which is clearly not normal.”

The court heard a letter sent to Lampard by King in September 2017 acknowledged that the situation was starting to feel “like Groundhog Day”.

King allegedly said he had an idea he “should probably have thought of a while ago”. He allegedly wrote: “I would really like your help with getting into the TV industry.” King said he was sure she would have some great connections, adding that he was “making no headway”, the court heard.

He allegedly said he would like to come to the Lampards’ home to “pick your brains”, adding that she seemed to be “a very good actress”. He allegedly said he did not want to “rake over old ground”, adding: “I will just play the adoring fan.”

In the letter, King referred to his “in-depth analysis” of how she operated on TV, the court heard. The letter ended with: “PS: this letter will self destruct in 10 seconds.” He allegedly added that this would only happen if she helped it along with a lit match.

The court heard about the time the TV star was at her home with her husband when they heard a knock at the door. Their housekeeper answered and told the couple that a Christof was at the door and asking for them.

Lampard explained that her husband works with someone called Christof and thought it was him. As they approached the front door, she said she recognised him as “the man from Twitter”.

The hearing continues.