An obsessed driving instructor who stalked his 17-year-old college student has finally landed in jail after breaking a restraining order and showing up at her home with Stanley blades.
Graham Mansie, 53, stalked Maisie Relph, now 19, for a four-month period between July and October last year.
He created a TikTok account called ‘For Maisie’ with a red heart emoji and the biography ‘my favorite’, asked her out for drinks and showered her with unwanted gifts, posing on WhatsApp as a male freshman.
He lost hundreds of pounds paying dark web fraudsters to hack into her social accounts and has given the teen post-traumatic stress.
Maisie changed her clothes and cut her hair in a bob after police advised her to change her look while Mansie was out on bail.
The student said the ordeal left her unable to go out on her own and said the stress of being stalked led to her being diagnosed with severe anorexia.
Maisie Relph, now 19, was stalked for a period of four months between July and October last year
Graham Mansie, 53, pleaded guilty to one count of stalking and was sentenced to eight weeks in prison in May, with a one-year suspension, but he is now in prison
Mansie, of Beckenham in south-east London, pleaded guilty to one charge of stalking and was sentenced to eight weeks in prison in May this year, one year of which was suspended.
But just nine days later, the stalker got into his car and drove 220 miles to York, the court heard today.
He had already violated his bail terms twice by contacting her via Instagram and WhatsApp before showing up outside her house, the court was told.
One of Maisie’s roommates saw Mansie rocking on the grass below her window when he got home from work around 11 p.m., the court heard.
The frightened students called security, who found wounds on his wrists. Mansie handed over Stanley knives and the police found more knives, it was said.
Mansie was finally sentenced to 20 months in prison today at the York Crown Court.
He was given 16 months for a restraining order violation, two months for knife possession and his two-month suspended sentence was activated, all for running consecutively.
Just before sentencing, Maisie said she was afraid he would use the knives to persuade her to go with him, or sexually assault her.
Maisie, an educational psychology student from Bromley, south-east London, said: ‘It was terrible – an absolute nightmare. I only have nine days of freedom.
Maisie changed her clothes and cut her hair in a bob after police advised her to change her look while Mansie was out on bail
Maisie said the ordeal made her feel very ‘cautious’ and says she can’t go out alone anymore
“I was convinced he wouldn’t break the restraining order, but that was too good to be true.
“I’ve been in rehabilitation before, but he showed that he should be taken into custody because it’s just not safe for me, my friends or him to release him.
“My roommates said I was a different person in those nine days—I was so cold and smiling.
“I really thought I was going to get my life back, but it all went wrong again.
“This whole situation has made me very cautious. I can’t go out alone anymore.’
Maisie signed up for ten classes with Mansie, of Beckenham, South East London, in July 2020 and ended up getting 32.
Mansie appeared in front of teenager’s flat in York on May 27, court heard Wednesday
Mansie, 33 years older than sixth, taught about 15 of her friends who all passed their exams and recommended him.
But he soon started calling her his “favorite,” inviting her for a drink, and speaking during the two-hour classes about wanting to be in a relationship with someone, she claims.
One of her friends said he kept telling me he had a student he wanted to be in a relationship with, she said.
Mansie was sentenced to eight weeks in jail with a one-year suspension in Bromley Court on May 18 and ordered to complete 30 days of rehabilitation and visit the Stalking Threat Assessment Center to get help.
The court was told that he had already violated his bail terms twice by contacting her via Instagram and WhatsApp.
Then he appeared in front of her flat in York on May 27, the court heard on Wednesday.
Masie’s victim statement in court said, “This crime affected me both emotionally and psychologically.”
The student said the stress of being stalked led to her being diagnosed with severe anorexia and undergoing therapy.
“I think about what happened every day, constantly worried and paranoid about what might happen,” she said.
“I thought it couldn’t get any worse after the previous incidents. But if Mr. Mansie breaks a rule of law nine days after sentencing, I wonder if this will ever end.”
She said he was “obsessed” and that when he drove from South London, he left her “stunned.”
“I am now a 19-year-old battling a serious mental illness and having to live with a 53-year-old stalker while trying to graduate,” the psychology student told the court.
Maisie said she’s considered moving to Australia but doesn’t want to change her life
The court heard Maisie was unable to answer questions during the interview with police, but issued a prepared statement saying he intended to commit suicide after reports of the original case were circulated on social media sites.
She said, ‘I knew it was him as soon as I saw him sitting there – he rocked back and forth and cried. He must be very sick.
“His image is etched into my brain. Unfortunately I can’t forget.
“I could recognize him everywhere by his Arsenal football shirt and his hair.
‘I’ve been thinking about changing my name and even emigrating to Australia.
‘I don’t want that though; I love my life and I don’t want to change it, and I can’t make everything revolve around him.
“I also think that if he wants to find me, he will.
‘I definitely have post-traumatic stress from this.
“Every time I see a red Ford Fiesta or someone in a football jersey, I panic, even though he’s been locked up since May.
“It’s hard to describe how awful it is to worry about when this will end.
“He’s 53, so in theory this could go on for at least another 20 years.”