A fan who stalked Billie Piper has been jailed for 12 months after breaching a prevention order in ‘obsessive’ pursuit of her.
Philip Jerome appeared at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court on his 49th birthday to be sentenced after pleading guilty to four breach charges.
It’s said that he had a ‘sexual interest’ in the Doctor Who star, having previously visited her house and left letters for her.
Jerome, from Winchester, Hampshire, had been made subject to the stalking prevention order relating to Piper on July 21, 2022.
The court heard police had carried out an inspection of Jerome’s devices on December 27, 2025, and found four images of the actress saved on his phone.
He had also tagged 11 posts and images, including AI images, on X relating to her, on four separate days earlier that month.
Prosecutor Anisa Alrubaie said this included a comment in which Jerome wrote: ‘I think I know which image probably made me fall for (Piper), the GQ awards, and made me want to meet her.’
He then added: ‘She is great without a bra too.’
The former pop star doesn’t have access to her official X account as it is organised and run by her personal assistant.
Alrubaie said: ‘She doesn’t generally inform Ms Piper of posts, there is a significant amount of negativity that is not relevant and she doesn’t need to be made aware.’
The court was told that Jerome was made subject to a restraining order in 2018 after attending Piper’s home address, posting cards through her door and sending letters by post to her.
He then breached this order in December that year by sending messages on Facebook to her mother and sister ‘expressing a wish for them to meet up’.
Jerome is also said to have made comments about her choice of partner, with the actress having dated singer Johnny Lloyd, 38, since 2016 after she split with Laurence Fox.
She and Lloyd broke up in 2024 but rekindled the romance in late 2025. They share a daughter as well as parenting Piper’s two sons with Fox.
Police also reportedly found ringbinders at Jerome’s home containing newspaper clippings, details of events and other merchandise relating to Piper.
Jerome was previously jailed for 12 months in 2022 for a breach of the restraining order by turning up at a comic convention where she was signing autographs.
He posed for a fan photograph twice on the same day with the I Hate Suzie actress, wearing different clothing the second time. However, she recognised him and he was removed from the event by security.
The defendant had also been convicted of harassment dating back to 2012 against a female friend by ‘sleeping outside her address in the woods’, the court heard.
Sentencing Jerome, District Judge Kirsty Allman told him: ‘You have a sexual interest in Ms Piper, making reference to her without having a bra on and so on.’
She added: ‘The motivation is to contact her in the hope she will engage in a relationship with you.
‘You demonstrated an entrenched pattern of stalking and harassment offences, and failing to comply with court orders.’
Caroline Bonavia, defending, said: ‘Were it not for the order, these (offences) would be very similar to what a keen fan would post about a public figure.
‘A lot of them are similar images of her head in an Andy Warhol arrangement, many repeats essentially of her face and sometimes with AI.
‘The difference for him is that he must not do this and he accepts it.’
Bonavia said that Jerome had shown a lack of remorse and empathy, had a recent diagnosis of autism and had sought psychological support to stop him seeking ‘obsessive and unsuccessful relationships’.
She said that his breaches ‘had moved a great deal away from what one would think were the terrifying elements’ and added: ‘He needs to learn that fan or not, even this sort of posting is not permitted.’