Anna Friel stalking case: 71-year-old Appleton spared jail, given community order and 15-year restraining order

A Reading Crown Court judge spared 71-year-old Phil Appleton jail time after he admitted stalking actress Anna Friel. He was sentenced to a 24-month community order, with 12 months of electronically monitored exclusion and a 15-year restraining order prohibiting contact with Ms Friel and her daughter and barring him from key Windsor locations.

Prosecutors outlined a pattern of communications and intrusions beginning in 2022 after Appleton approached Friel on Windsor’s Long Walk. He claimed to have worked on television sets with her and asked for her phone number, but she gave him only her email. After she returned home, Friel discovered she was receiving regular emails, some detailing her friends and her daughter’s middle name. In December 2022 Appleton joined Friel’s health club at a luxury hotel in Windsor, a move staff said did not reveal his feelings for the plaintiff. His membership was later revoked as his behavior at the club was described as disinhibited.

On New Year’s Day 2023 he emailed that he wanted to marry her and included details of a wedding he was planning. He referred to Friel as the perfect wife on January 3 and on January 4 sent a message indicating he was in bed naked thinking of her and included a naked selfie showing his torso. Thames Valley Police spoke to Appleton on January 4 and advised him not to contact Friel again, but in December 2023 he again turned up at her home. The first time he arrived, Friel’s 19-year-old daughter opened the door and Appleton said he was there to take Friel to the Runnymede Ball, dressed in a dinner jacket. He had previously emailed asking her to attend the ball, but she did not respond and did not expect him to appear.

Friel’s daughter asked him to leave, and he did so, only to return a year later on the evening of December 9. Earlier that day he had sent an Instagram message saying I love you. The victim later saw someone looking through the lounge window; her daughter opened the door and Appleton handed her an unopened package of cigarettes and said they were for Friel. The two women later checked CCTV footage and found Appleton had been at their home for almost 30 minutes. On December 10 he returned again to collect a parcel that had been delivered to the property and handed a wooden ring and an empty cigarette packet to Friel’s daughter. Friel reported the appearance to police but Appleton turned up again before he could be arrested. The victim described being shocked to see him approaching and her daughter screaming and running inside.

In a victim impact statement, Friel said stalking had disrupted her privacy and caused turmoil, anxiety and fear of the unknown. She noted that the intrusion into her home, and the danger posed to her daughter, changed how she felt in her own space. She added that the case was time consuming and that the prior warning she had received had not stopped him. The prosecutor argued that a restraining order should cover future publications or social media posts about Friel, given Appleton is a writer who has published material about his life and experiences and could reference her in his work or posts.

Appleton was initially charged with stalking involving serious alarm or distress between January 1, 2022, and December 11 of the following year, which he denied. On August 4 he admitted a lesser offense of stalking and appeared at Reading Crown Court on September 18 for sentencing. The court heard that although Appleton had been remanded to custody, he was later transferred to a secure psychiatric hospital, where he remained until February, meaning he had served six months in custody. James Bloomer KC, representing Appleton, described the behavior as thoroughly troubling, while offering an unreserved apology and shame. He said the defendant, who described himself as a broken man, wished to return to a law-abiding life and hoped for a quiet final chapter to his years.

Judge Alan Blake noted the length and persistence of the stalking but said he was minded to impose a community order with preventive requirements. Appleton received a 24-month community order, including a 12-month electronically monitored exclusion preventing him from attending certain areas and 10 rehabilitation activity requirement days for his supervisor to monitor compliance with his medication. He was also subjected to a 15-year restraining order, which forbids contact with Ms Friel or her daughter, bans him from a specific road in Windsor and parts of the Long Walk, and prevents his attendance at the Fairmont Hotel and Spa in Windsor Park.

The case underscores the ongoing tension between public figures and unwanted attention, and it illustrates how courts address stalking that stops short of violence yet creates a sustained sense of fear and intrusion. Appleton’s lawyers characterized the sentence as proportionate given the duration of the behavior and his mental health history, while the victim’s supporters said the measures are necessary to provide lasting protection and deter future harassment. The court’s decision aligns with prior prosecutions that emphasize restraining orders and monitored community sentences as a balance between punishment, rehabilitation, and public safety.