HGV driver with fetishes sent chilling Christmas card to Leeds haulage manager saying it 'would be her last'

Creepy Mark Allerton, 50, also told the terrified woman that he had access to weapons, warned her that he knew where she lived and to “look over her shoulder” in a Christmas card he left on her work desk.

Leeds Crown Court heard that the woman had to install CCTV at her home and her partner was forced to change his work patterns so she would not be alone.

Allerton, of Chantry Road, Wakefield, admitted stalking with an intent to cause fear of violence between October 2021 and December 2022. He had been remanded in jail since June.

Prosecutor Samuel Ponniah said the woman had been employed as a HR manager at the Leeds-based firm where Allerton was a driver. In October 2021, the pair had a selfie photo taken but the woman became uncomfortable when Allerton suggested they play a game in which they wrap each other up in clingfilm.

The woman later said he was persistent and “seemed fixated”. Over the next few months he would call her work number, and sent personal emails that she felt were inappropriate.

She reported him to management, he apologised and promised to cut contact, but didn’t. He underwent a disciplinary and left the company in March 2022.

Then in December last year, the Christmas card was left on the woman’s desk at work which read on the front: “To the one I love at Christmas.”

He was arrested on January 9 and gave a prepared statement. He was interviewed again two days later and made “full admissions”, Mr Ponniah said. Allerton confessed he had a fetish for long hair and being tied up.

He later said he was angry at losing his job and wanted the woman dead and said: “If I could get away with it, I would.”

Not represented in court, Allerton handed the judge, Recorder Michael Wheeler, a letter he had written in his defence offering his apologies to the woman, and admitting he acted “stupidly”.

He then told the judge: “I want this to end today, I’ve had enough. I need help to overcome this addiction so I can put it behind me and be a better person.”

Recorder Wheeler responded: “It seems to me you are starting to realise the severity of what you have done. You are a 50-year-old man who has not been before the courts before, but you’ve really gone off the deep end.

"It wasn’t a one-off, it took place over a period of time. You made her feel extremely scared. You abused your position of a working relationship and went off exploring your own fantasies.

"You told her it would be her last Christmas. I can’t imagine the the level of stress it would have caused her.”

He gave Allerton a two-year community order with 30 rehabilitation days, 150 hours of unpaid work and a 10-year restraining order to keep him away from the victim.