Lydia Suffield avoids jail for stalking George Osborne and his wife Thea Rogers | UK News

A woman who stalked former Tory chancellor George Osborne and his wife, including reporting them to social services, has been spared jail.

The couple were investigated for child neglect and drug use after Lydia Suffield made eight anonymous false referrals to the NSPCC, Isleworth Crown Court heard.

Suffield, 29, also sent dozens of emails with false claims to their friends and family.

Mr Osborne told the court her actions were “utterly debilitating” and “malicious” and said it “completely ruined well over a year of my life”.

The freelance writer received a 22-week sentence, suspended for two years, with the judge warning she would likely go to prison if she reoffends.

Suffield was also given a restraining order, told to do 30 days’ rehabilitation, and pay costs of £1,630 plus a victim surcharge.

The court heard the stalking and harassment began when Suffield contacted Mr Osborne’s friend, Lord Daniel Finkelstein, on social media in 2020.

He agreed to meet her in person two years later to “stem the flurry” of messages he was getting, but the court heard she continued.

Suffield, who the court heard has autism, dyspraxia and ADHD, stepped up her campaign in the summer of 2022, emailing Mr Osborne’s wife Thea Rogers and her mother, as well as others linked to the couple.

She also sent allegations to guests before their wedding in June 2023.

Mrs Rogers considered cancelling the wedding and told the court Suffield had sent “creepy” gifts to her children.

“My anxiety increased as it was clear she wasn’t just interested in me,” Mrs Rogers said in her victim impact statement.

Mr Osborne added: “She went to great lengths under the cowardly cloak of anonymity to utterly ruin our day.”

Suffield, from Liverpool, had denied two counts of stalking involving serious alarm or distress, but admitted two less serious stalking charges.

The court heard a police search of her devices and notebooks had “revealed the depth of her obsession with George Osborne”.

“The notebooks contained a wealth of personal information about the Osborne family,” prosecutor Paul Jarvis KC told the court.

He added: “There was also fan fiction that Ms Suffield had written about Mr Osborne, and one piece entitled Thea Rogers Hates Lydia Suffield.

“Ms Suffield had even saved a copy of the Facebook profiles of Mr Osborne’s adult children.”

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Judge Mrs Justice Cutts said Suffield’s campaign had started “as a result of her interest in journalism”, but her continuing behaviour was not.

She told the stalker her “persistent, determined” campaign was designed to “disrupt, if not ruin, their lives as much as you could without revealing your identity”.