The personal trainer became so concerned he felt he had to “look over his shoulder to make sure Ms Rookes was nowhere near him” during the near-year-long obsession
A fitness fanatic stalked a personal trainer for nearly a year and attended up to 20 of his classes a week.
Julie Rookes became “fixated” on the man, splurging more than £4,000 on his classes. She first met on an online class in the pandemic and then became “obsessed” with him.
A court heard the victim even quit his job to work at another gym in North Yorkshire in an attempt to shake off the stalker – but Rookes regularly made round trips of up to 40 miles to attend the trainer’s in-person classes there too.
But Rookes, 50, appeared at York Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday where she was previously found guilty of causing serious alarm or distress. She was given a five-year restraining order banning her from going anywhere near the terrified trainer – but she avoided jail as a judge said pressures on prisons would mean staff were unlikely to do any “meaningful work” with her.
READ MORE: Vile thug’s four chilling words after bursting wife’s lip fillers so she couldn’t look pretty
Magistrates heard Rookes even visited the personal trainer’s home while he was away. She on one occasion had to be escorted out of a class after she was blocked from attending, and then proceeded to move her car behind the personal trainer’s vehicle in the gym’s car park.
Kathryn Walters, prosecuting, said the stalking had been “like no other situation the victim had ever experienced”. The lawyer added: “He meets many people and takes great joy in helping them to achieve their goals but he found himself distancing himself from people seeking help.”
The defendant tried to hide her face as photographers attempted to take her picture outside York Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday. There, district judge Adrian Lower said Rookes had become “obsessed” with the personal trainer but that there was no suggestion of any sexual element to her obsession. The stalking took place over a period of 10 months, between May 2022 and February 2023.
Judge Lower added that the personal trainer may now feel as though he must “look over his shoulder to make sure Ms Rookes is nowhere near him”. However, the judge said sending Rookes to prison would have little impact as she “would not go to prison for very long”.
He added that the pressures facing the prison service would mean staff were unlikely “to do any meaningful work with her”. Judge Lower also ordered that Rookes pay a £114 victim surcharge and £620 in prosecution costs.
Alongside the restraining order, Judge Lower handed Rookes, who is from Derwenthorpe, York, a year-long community order with 120 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation days.
