"By her own admission she is obsessed"
Fiza Jabeen, aged 36, of Harborne, Birmingham, was jailed for 13 months for a three-month stalking campaign against TV explorer Levison Wood.
She began sending “explicit and unpleasant” messages to the explorer on Instagram and Twitter in April 2020.
Jabeen also began contacting Mr Wood’s friends, family and ex-partner on social media and by email despite being handed a restraining order.
Jabeen was eventually arrested after travelling to Mr Wood’s home in Richmond.
Kingston Crown Court heard she had intercepted the documentary-maker as he was walking his dog in nearby Bushy Park.
Jabeen asked if she could come to his house for tea and to use the internet.
Levison Wood was known for his documentaries and books about his hitchhiking journeys.
He recently appeared in the series Walking with Elephants, which saw him follow the largest annual migration of Botswana’s elephants on their 650-mile journey.
During her stalking campaign, Mr Wood complained about her on social media and revealed he called the police after she threatened his parents.
On June 9, 2020, Jabeen received a restraining order, banning her from contacting Mr Wood.
However, she breached the order on July 10 after attending Mr Wood’s home after locating his address on Companies House.
On July 15, Jabeen pleaded guilty to one offence of harassment and an offence of stalking.
In a statement, Mr Wood said he felt he was “constantly looking over his shoulder” and he was concerned for both his own and his family’s safety.
He added: “By her own admission she is obsessed and her actions demonstrate that she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.”
The explorer revealed that the ordeal led to him putting his Grade II listed house up for sale so that Jabeen cannot track him down.
Fiona Dunkley, for Jabeen, said her client had a successful career but had no experience of male relationships.
She said: “She describes her interaction with men as being very teenage-like and her reaction to the complainant as being like a teenage crush.
“She doesn’t really know how to control her emotions, having never had an emotional interaction with a man.”
In late 2019, Jabeen gave up work to care for her terminally-ill mother who passed away in March 2020.
The court heard that since she has been in prison, Jabeen has refused contact with her family.
Judge Georgina Kent said: “In essence, Mr Levison Wood is someone who has a high media profile.
“From April of this year you were contacting him on social media and some of that contact was explicit and unpleasant.
“Stalking has an extremely detrimental impact on the victims, their family and friends, their mental wellbeing and their ability to get on with their lives without fear that someone is going to pop up at any time and cause them harm or embarrassment.”
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