19/01/2007

Nine year sentence for stalker

A stalker who harassed a consultant psychiatrist has been jailed for nine years at Southwark Crown Court.

Maria Marchese, 45, stalked Dr Jan Falkowski and his partner with a barrage of phone calls, emails and text messages in what the judge described as the most serious case of its type of which he was aware.

Marchese had sent threatening messages to people who knew the couple, she had also twice burgled the 45-year-old consultant's riverboat, on one occasion opening gas taps.

She not only destroyed the couples' marriage plans and their relationship, but also accused the doctor of drug raping her acquiring a condom from a waste bin to frame him.

Sentencing Marchese, the Judge said that it was "difficult to imagine a more serious case."

(SP/EF)


Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

18 March 2009
Hodgson Conviction Quashed After 27 Years
A man who has spent 27 years in prison has had his conviction quashed at the Court of Appeal. Sean Hodgson, now 57, was sentenced to life imprisonment for strangling 22-year-old gas board clerk and part-time barmaid Teresa De Simone in Southampton.
30 March 2010
Cousins Jailed For Blackmail
Two cousins who terrified a man with threatening phone calls and text messages have been jailed. Daniel Brown, 21, of Barton Road, Stretford and Michael Brown, 22, of Kingsway Park, Davyhulme, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit blackmail. They were both sentenced to 16 months in jail at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
16 November 2005
Text service encourages smokers to quit
Smokers will be able to access support enabling them to quit via text messages, emails and phone-calls, under new plans announced by the government. The ‘Together’ programme is aimed at helping those who wish to keep their attempt at kicking the habit discreet.
13 October 2006
TV reporter sentenced for harassment
A TV reporter found guilty of bombarding Crystal Palace Chairman Simon Jordon with text messages and phone calls has been given a suspended jail sentence. 35-year-old Tara Stout sent Jordon underwear, love letters and would call and text him up to 200 times per day. She also sent him the bills for shopping trips after they met in March last year.
21 February 2013
Man Extradited From Morocco To Face Four Murder Charges
A 54-year-old man has been extradited from Morocco to appear in court charged with the murders of a family of four at their home in Northampton. Jifeng and Helen Ding and their two daughters, 18-year-old Xing and Alice, 12, were stabbed at their home in Wootton in April 2011.