Marsh: My terror at the hands of stalker

Joseph Mafwenke, 38, left the celebrity fearing for her safety with a "vast" number of letters sent to her home address in Brentwood.

Mafwenke's bizarre campaign included sending Miss Marsh, 35, doctored pictures of the couple apparently showing him with her.

She eventually moved house to avoid the letters.

Mafwenke was arrested when he was seen by Miss Marsh stood outside her old house.

She broke down in tears as the court was shown letters sent to her house. At one point she was receiving five letters a week.

She said: "Straight away, I knew it was not normal fan mail, the letters would say things like 'you will be my wife', 'we will be together', 'you will have four children', 'we are meant to be together'.

"The way it was said, it was like it was a given that it would happen."

Miss Marsh said the letters, which included pictures of a naked Mafwenke on top of her, left her "really scared".

Miss Marsh told the court, she had initially asked police not to take any action in case it tipped Mafwenke over the edge.

She added: "I thought it might be rape, murder, kidnap.

"In my line of work, you don't think anything is too far-fetched."

One letter said: "I love you and the way you are alone..

"I plan to have four babies with you in married life. Thank you for I make it happen.

Another said: "Our time is now to have our childrens".

In his defence, Mafwenke, from Crawley, West Sussex, told the court he continued to send the letters because Miss Marsh never wrote back, telling him to stop.

He claimed he only visited her to check she had received the letters.

Miss Marsh said she did not reply to the letters, which were sometimes sent by recorded delivery, because she did not think it was the right thing to do.

The jury took just under an hour to find Mafwenke guilty of stalking.

The case was adjourned for five weeks while the probation service prepares reports on his background.

He has been remanded in custody.