Convicted killer and Cheryl stalker jailed for breaching restraining order

A convicted killer and stalker of Girls Aloud star Cheryl Tweedy has been jailed after he breached a restraining order by turning up at the singer’s home for a fourth time.

Daniel Bannister, 50, “can’t stay away” from the singer, and has already spent time in prison for the same offence.

At Reading Crown Court on Tuesday, a judge sentenced him to 12 months jail after he admitted a single charge of breaching a restraining order.

He was also handed a fresh restraining order not to contact Ms Tweedy.

Judge Alan Blake told him: “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.”

The stalker showed up at her rural home for the fourth time on June 19, arriving in a taxi just before 10pm, and rang the intercom system twice before peering over the gate, the court heard.

Bannister believed 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 has 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.

The court heard Bannister is a musician, and trained to a very high level as a figure skater as a child.

He was jailed for 16 weeks at Wycombe Magistrates’ Court in March for repeatedly turning up at Ms Tweedy’s Buckinghamshire home while under a restraining order.

He was initially jailed for four months in September last year where he was handed a three-year restraining order, but breached it by turning up at her home in December.

During the hearing at which Bannister was jailed for 16 weeks, the court heard Cheryl “immediately panicked” and was “terrified” when she saw him outside her home, fearing for the safety of her eight-year-old son Bear.

In 2012, Bannister killed Rajendra Patel, 48, at a south London YMCA shelter and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Mr Patel died as a result of an injury to his leg, the court heard.

Cheryl’s former partner Liam Payne died last year in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after falling from his third-floor hotel balcony.

She described the former One Direction star’s death as “indescribably painful” and voiced fears about protecting their son.