Claire Foy: Stalker who targeted The Crown actress in ‘deeply frightening’ campaign spared jail

A “delusional” stalker who targeted actress Claire Foy in a “deeply frightening” campaign against her has been spared jailed.

Jason Penrose became the subject of a stalking protection order (SPO) last year after sending The Crown star thousands of emails and turning up at her door.

The US citizen pleaded guilty in November to stalking Foy – who played Queen Elizabeth II in the first two series of the Netflix show – between August 2021 and February 2022.

He also admitted two charges of breaching an interim stalking ban order by sending a letter and a parcel to the Golden Globe winner.

Foy, 38, found the actions of the 49-year-old stalker to be “deeply frightening”, the court has previously heard.

Penrose was handed a suspended sentence at the Old Bailey on Friday and has agreed to be repatriated to the US.

He was sentenced to 22 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.

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At the time the SPO was granted, District Judge Michael Oliver said the order was “necessary” because of the “sustained and repeated conduct due to a delusional belief Mr Penrose had about Ms Foy”.

The court heard previously that Penrose sent an email to Foy’s agent claiming he was a film director and producer and wanted her to appear in his next film.

Foy told her agent she did not know who he was, and from 2 November to mid-December, he sent more than 1,000 emails, contacted the star’s sister and attended her address after finding out where it was.

Emails were also sent to Foy’s publicist, Emma Jackson, writing about “wanting her to be his girlfriend”, according to court papers.

On 17 December 2021, Foy “called the police to report that Jason Penrose was outside her residence ringing on her doorbell constantly”, the papers said.

Penrose was due to be sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court in December but the case was adjourned as further assurances were sought that Penrose, who is in the UK illegally, would be deported following sentencing.

Before December’s hearing, the court had also received a letter written by someone with “some sort of obsession” with Foy, Judge David Aaronberg said.

Penrose, who has been held in hospital for mental health treatment, denied sending the letter and said from the dock: “They’ve spelt my name wrong.”

Foy, who won a Golden Globe for her performance in The Crown, also starred in Steven Soderbergh’s psychological thriller Unsane, and played Neil Armstrong’s wife Janet Shearon in the biopic of the astronaut, First Man.