‘I didn’t know what she was capable of’
Mason Mount has shared his fears of an online influencer who bombarded him with messages following a one-night stand, as she avoided prison after admitting to stalking the Chelsea midfielder.
Orla Melissa Sloan, 22, who called herself Devil Baby on Instagram, used 21 phone numbers to stalk Mount for four months between 19 June and 28 October last year.
She also stalked his former teammate Billy Gilmour between 10 September and 28 October 28 in 2022 and harassed fellow Blues star Ben Chilwell between 20 and 29 October last year.
A judge at Westminster magistrates’ court sentenced her to a 12-week prison term, suspended for 18 months, along with 200 hours of unpaid work and a requirement to undertake 30 days of rehabilitation.
She must also pay Gilmour £500, Mount and Chilwell £300 each plus £85 costs and a £154 victim surcharge.
The court heard that Sloan, who was described as “addicted to social media”, slept with Mount after they met at a party at his England teammate Mr Chilwell’s home in November 2020.
Prosecutor Dmytro Palamarchuk said the pair remained in touch for around six months before Mount said he “did not intend to remain in contact” with her.
The prosecutor said: “The defendant went out and obtained 20 phone numbers which she used to keep bombarding Mason Mount with messages.
“Mason Mount kept blocking the phone numbers but they simply kept coming. The nature of the messages would be quite random and erratic from the defendant.
“Initially the defendant implied that she just wanted to talk to Mason Mount… and that she will not bother him afterwards. Since he didn’t reply the messages became more and more menacing.”
In one she said “you and Ben will be destroyed, beware of Devil Baby Mason. I can morph at any second.”
The prosecutor said Sloan tagged the star in Instagram posts which included collages of photos of the player with other women.
She also called the player a “criminal” and “spread lies” about him to his friends and family, the court heard.
One message showed an Apple account buying a new number for £12.99 with the words: “I’m not buying food anymore so I can get more numbers. I will be faster than you.”
Mount was “concerned she had an obsession or fixation with him and he didn’t know what she was capable of”, the court heard.
He said in a victim impact statement: “Miss Sloan knows roughly where I live and where I train. I’m worried as if she is unable to contact me, she might turn up at my training centre.”
The court heard other messages were aimed at professional footballers, friends and family members, including left-back Chilwell, 26.
He told how he found Sloan’s behaviour “erratic”, while Scotland midfielder Gilmour said her messages had a “huge impact” on his life, after he joined Brighton from Chelsea in September last year.
The court heard she first messaged him saying she thought they should be in a relationship but he did not want contact to continue and told her so.
The messages became more threatening and in one she said: “‘I will hunt you down, Orla x.”
After she began messaging his friends and family including by saying “this is very serious what Billy is doing to me.”
Some messages had religious references and they became more “erratic” over time, the court heard.
She even messaged his aunt to tell her the footballer “is a bad, bad boy” and that “he slept with me and never, never spoke to me again.”
Gilmour’s impact statement read: “I have not been able to sleep and have had to take sleeping tablets. It’s had a negative effect on my performance and professional life.
“Being in a new town where I don’t have my friends or family, it’s really upsetting.”
She also claimed to have fallen pregnant in allegations described at an earlier hearing as “completely fictitious”.
He added: “I don’t know who I can trust anymore. Some of the information would only have been known by people close to me.”
In mitigation her lawyer Michael Cogan said she had been “naive” in not realising any relationship with Mount was not going to progress, adding that she is remorseful and has not contacted them since.
He added: “There was shortly after that party, certainly on the same evening, a short sexual relationship.
“Unfortunately Sloan thought there was rather more to it than that. She is… incredibly naive.
“She is addicted to social media. She has been sucked into a world where instant gratification is achieved only by being seen with rather more successful people.
“She is obsessed with the way she looks and how she thinks other people view her.”
Sloan, from Exeter, showed little visible emotion as she sat in the dock wearing a black top over a white dress and heavy make up.
She spoke only to confirm her name, date of birth, address, and to say ‘yes’ when asked if she understood her sentence.
She had been warned she faced jail after admitting stalking Mount and Gilmour and causing harassment to Chilwell, at a hearing last month.
Chairwoman of the bench Alison Gowman said the influencer had engaged in “sustained and deliberate attempts to harass and stalk” the footballers but she was spared prison.
Sloan was also banned from contacting the players for five years.
