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A convicted killer who stalked Cheryl Tweedy has been jailed after turning up at the singer’s home for a fourth time.
Daniel Bannister, 50, who breached a restraining order after showing up at Tweedy’s rural home in June, had already spent time in prison for the same offence. At Reading crown court on Tuesday, a judge sentenced him to 12 months in jail after he admitted a single charge of breaching a restraining order. He was also handed a fresh restraining order not to contact Tweedy.
Bannister arrived at her home for the fourth time on 19 June, coming in a taxi just before 10pm, and rang the intercom system twice before peering over the gate, the court heard.
Bannister claimed the singer had invited him to her home over Microsoft Teams, the court was told. In a victim impact statement, the singer said she was “stunned” when Bannister visited her home yet again, and that she had been forced to hire personal security.
“Each time he returns the worry of his intentions intensifies,” she said. “I’m worried, nervous and on edge every time I open my gate. No person should have to feel this way.”
“Daniel has made my young child scared,” she added.
Judge Alan Blake said: “She does not wish any contact with you and you are causing her anxiety. You have shown defiance to the court order. You need to draw a line under that behaviour.”
Bannister was initially jailed for four months in September last year when he was handed a three-year restraining order, but breached it by turning up at her home in December.
In March, he was jailed for 16 weeks for repeatedly turning up at Tweedy’s home while under a restraining order. During this hearing, the court heard Tweedy “immediately panicked” and was “terrified” when she saw him outside her home, fearing for the safety of her eight-year-old son.
In 2012, Bannister killed Rajendra Patel, 48, who died as a result of an injury to his leg, at a south London YMCA shelter and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
