Tom Odell
BRIT Award winning singer Tom Odell was stalked by an obsessed fan who turned up at his home and tried to contact his model fiancee, a court heard.
Olga Moskaleva, 45, sent a string of postcards and letters to the singer-songwriter, in a campaign of harassment that began in April 2020 during the first national lockdown.
She sent emails to Odell, including one saying she would “see you tomorrow”, and was spotted on CCTV in July last year loitering outside his home.
One of the postcards was put through his letter box, and Moskaleva also left a book outside his home.
On September 21 last year, Moskaleva attended a music venue “with the intention of seeing the victim”, Thames magistrates court heard.
Odell, a platinum-selling artist, won a Brits Critics Choice award in 2013 after first breaking on to the international music scene. His fourth album, Monsters, was released to critical acclaim in February last year.
Moskaleva pleaded guilty to a charge of stalking Odell between April 1, 2020 and September 20, 2021, and was tearful at a court appearance in December last year when was told she could face a prison sentence.
According to the charge, she “pursued a course of conduct which amounted to the stalking of Mr Tom Odell” which she “knew or ought to have known amounted to the harassment of him”.
Moskaleva is now due to be sentenced in April, once she has been fully assessed by doctors.
“A mental health treatment requirement would be better, rather than a straight-forward custodial sentence,” said defence lawyer Caroline Geary.
“She does have severe mental health issues.”
The sentencing hearing on April 7 is expected to be told the impact the stalking campaign has had on Odell.
Moskaleva, from Harrow, is banned from contacting Odell or his fiancée, the model Georgie Somerville, and she must not go to their homes or places or work as part of her bail conditions.
She has pleaded guilty to stalking without fear, alarm, or distress.
