Laura Woods left in fear after obsessed stalker Harneet Kaur ‘sent her vile messages & threatened to kidnap her dog’
LAURA Woods was reportedly left in “real fear” after an obsessed stalker sent her vile messages and threatened to kidnap her dog.
The presenter, 36, endured two years of torment as Harneet Kaur, 25, targeted her online and sent unwanted packages to her home.
Female Liverpool FC fan Kaur became infatuated with Laura back in 2021 and began visiting the street she lived on, a court heard.
The sick campaign involved terrifying threats to kill Laura’s dog and vile messages where she referred to the pundit as a prostitute.
Bibles, sexual health tests and food orders were also arranged to be delivered to Laura’s London pad.
Kaur used Just Eat to arrange for Krispy Kreme doughnuts to be delivered to the address.
Judge Talog Davies said Ms Woods was initially “pleasantly surprised and thought it was a mistake or somebody being nice”, so posted a picture on her Twitter account saying they had “made her evening”.
But Antonie Muller, prosecuting, told Wolverhampton Crown Court “Woods did not realise this was to be the start of a campaign against her”.
Kaur sent a Starbucks order and chocolate lollipop with the message: “From your secret admirer and I’m not crazy”.
The contact then started turning “darker” when Woods, who presents for TNT Sport, was bombarded with messages.
One said she was a “former prostitute who slept herself into a job”.
Kaur was arrested in April 2022 and re-arrested in August later the same year.
Her phone and iPad were seized both times, but that “didn’t stop her”.
In October, she posted a picture of Woods commentating at Anfield with the caption: “Wtf is that coke head doing at Anfield.”
Kaur also sent messages saying Ms Woods was a ‘Tory’ and wasn’t welcome in Liverpool ahead of a match she was due to attend.
Kaur, who has autism, was previously banned from Liverpool’s ground for ticket touting.
While Kaur’s barrister claimed her offending was down to autistic traits of “obsession and compulsion”, judge Talog Davies rubbished the arguments.
Sentencing her to 14 months in prison, he said Kaur would have known the impact she was having on Woods.
Woods suffers from anxiety and has been forced to increase security at home and while at work.
Prosecutors said Kaur’s actions had left Ms Woods with a “real fear” that the defendant would get close to her while she was working.
Prosecutors fought to have Kaur banned from every football stadium in the country, reports the MailOnline.
But the judge said it was too harsh a punishment and instead handed her a jail sentence and a restraining order.
Kaur has been banned from contacting Woods and 14 other people, and cannot go within 500m of her home.
Balbir Singh, mitigating, said: “This defendant has never met Laura Woods, she has never spoken to her, she has never approached her – this is why this case is very different to many others that come before the courts.”
Kaur, from Walsall, West Mids, pleaded guilty to stalking.
Woods was awarded Presenter of the Year by Broadcast Sport after being recognised for her work covering women’s international matches in November last year.
As her popularity has risen, the ex-TalkSport host has seen her earnings go up following her departure from the radio show in June.
Woods was picking up a pay packet of £250,000-a-year to work on TalkSport, but figures show that her assets have now reached a value of over £1million.
Reports last month showed that Woods increased her wealth from £400,000 to seven figures from December 2021 to December 2022, months before she made the move to TNT.
Woods is said to have received a huge pay rise after signing with the former BT Sport.