Stalker, 50, who followed a personal trainer when he changed gyms and spent £4,000 joining 20 of his classes a week is spared prison

A 50-year-old stalker who followed a personal trainer for almost a year and spent £4,000 attending 20 of his classes a week has avoided being sent to prison.

Julie Rookes became fixated on the fitness instructor - blowing thousands of pounds on classes with a male personal trainer she first met on an online session during the Covid19 pandemic, York magistrates heard.

Rookes was convicted of stalking causing serious alarm or distress, and was given a five-year restraining order which bans her from going near the trainer.

She avoided jail after a judge said pressures on prisons would mean staff were unlikely to do any meaningful work with her.

Rookes made round trips of up to 40 miles to attend the trainers in-person classes at different gyms as he desperately moved locations to try to shake her off, magistrates heard.

The obsessed stalker even visited the personal trainers home while he was away.

On one occasion, Rookes had to be escorted out of a class after she was blocked from attending.

Julie Rookes, 50, stalked a personal trainer for nearly a year and avoided jail after a judge said pressures on prisons would mean staff were unlikely to do any meaningful work with her

She then proceeded to move her car behind the personal trainers vehicle in the gyms car park.

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.

But 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 a year-long community order with 120 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation days.