A stalker described in court as “obsessive” and having a “sexual interest” in Billie Piper has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after breaching a restraining order by sharing AI-generated images of the actress online.
Philip Jerome appeared before the court on Tuesday, his 49th birthday, where it was said he had published 11 posts about the Doctor Who star on X, among them “cartoon”-style images created using artificial intelligence.
The court was told Jerome has fixated on Ms Piper, 43, for more than 10 years, having previously gone to her home and left her feeling “unsafe”. At the time of the latest offences, he was already subject to a stalking prevention order.
Prosecutors said Jerome had developed a “sexual interest” in the actress and attempted to contact her by tagging her in the posts, in what was described as a “delusional” bid to pursue a relationship after first meeting her two decades ago.
His previous behaviour included pushing cards through her letterbox, repeatedly sending her messages on social media and writing an 18-page love letter.
Jerome has already served a jail sentence for breaching a restraining order after attending a Comic Con convention, where he posed for a fan photograph with Ms Piper twice in one day, changing clothes before returning for the second picture.
On that second occasion, the court heard, Ms Piper recognised Jerome and security staff removed him from the event.
Jerome, of Winchester, Hampshire, had previously been cautioned that any breach of the order could result in a prison term of up to five years.
But Prosecutor Anisa Alrubaie said he attempted to communicate with her again in December 2025 via posts on X.
Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court heard Jerome made 11 posts on X over the course of a month where he tagged Piper’s account. He also saved three photos of her to his gallery.
Ms Alrubaie said: ‘There are several instances where the defendant has tagged Billie Piper by her account and has been attempting to communicate with her by tagging her on X.’
She said that he had captioned a post with a picture of Piper on X: ‘I think I know which image probably made me fall for [Ms Piper], the GQ Awards, and made me want to meet her at the Growing Pains Book signing.
‘She looks great without a bra on.’
Ms Piper did not attend the latest hearing. The court heard her personal assistant ran the X account and tried to shield Ms Piper from the comments.
But at a previous court hearing Ms Piper said in a statement: ‘I do not feel safe being at home. I do not believe he would show up and hurt me, however I don’t know that for sure.’
Caroline Bonavia, in mitigation, said the latest posts were not of an ‘unpleasant nature’ and were mostly repeats of the same things.
Ms Bonavia said: ‘The offences are essentially finding images of Ms Piper’s head, her face from public sources, the internet, one magazine cover and a show and posting them on his X account and tagging her.
‘They are the same images of her head in different ways, mainly repeats. Some were essentially of her face with AI, so it looked like a cartoon.’
She said that this would not normally be a problem to post on social media but it was due to the ‘history’ of his offending that made this a breach.
Ms Bonavia said: ‘You have harm, of course, for a public figure, as she has suffered in the past, so there is always going to be some level of anxiety.
‘There were several posts over the course of the month, but as I say, there is nothing wrong with it, if it wasn’t for the history.’
Ms Bonavia said Jerome had been diagnosed with autism and had previously pleaded guilty to the breaches of the stalking prevention order.
The court was told that he had a harassment conviction dating back to 2013, in relation to another victim.
Jerome first appeared in court in connection with Ms Piper in 2018 when he admitted stalking and was handed a restraining order after attending Ms Piper’s home address, posting cards through her door and sending letters by post to her.
He then breached this order in December that year by sending messages on Facebook to her mother and sister ‘expressing a wish for them to meet up’ as well as for attending Ms Piper’s home and making comments about her choice of partner.
Police also found ringbinders at his home containing newspaper clippings, details of events and other merchandise
In February 2019 he appeared at a court in Southampton and admitted harassment by breaching the restraining order after he sent Piper an 18-page message when she did not attend the previous court hearing.
The hearing was told he sent a lengthy Facebook message of ‘adoration’ to the actress via her mother and sister, after tracking them down on the social networking site.
Six months later he appeared at court in Southampton again after he failed to turn up to ‘important’ sessions with a psychologist which the court had ordered him to attend to deal with his stalking.
In 2022 he was made the subject of the stalking prevention order. He was jailed for 12 months later that year for breaching the order.
Jailing him again on Tuesday, District Judge Kirsty Allman said that Jerome’s behaviour was ‘entrenched and obsessive’.
Judge Allman said: ‘You have a sexual interest in Ms Piper, making reference to her without a bra on and so on.’
She said that based on the totality of his offences and the ‘repeated’ nature of it, she could not suspend his sentence.
She said: ‘Your motivation being to contact her in the hope that she would engage in a relationship with you.
‘It is accepted that Ms Piper doesn’t have access to her X account and she doesn’t view it, but you intended her to see the posts, and this would likely have caused harm and distress, particularly in light of the background.’
She added: ‘You have demonstrated an entrenched pattern of stalking and harassment offences.’
She said that despite having been diagnosed with schizophrenic personality disorder in 2013 and recently diagnosed with autism, this did not outweigh the repeated breaches he had committed.
DJ Allman said: ‘You met Ms Piper 20 years ago and became obsessed with her. It is clear from the pre-sentence report that your obsession with Ms Piper has a sexual element.
‘Your persistent effort to contact her is because you believe you can engage in a relationship with her. This is delusional.
‘Your behaviour is entrenched, and it is obsessive. Probation services have concluded that you could not remain in the community.’
He was jailed for 12 months and ordered to pay a statutory surcharge of £187 after admitting four breaches of the order.
Ms Piper shot to fame aged just 15 with her first song ‘Because We Want To’. She married DJ Chris Evans when she was 18 and he was 35.
She has three children: two sons with her ex-husband Laurence Fox and a daughter with her former partner Johnny Lloyd.
