Model and ‘face of Royal Ascot’ Lady Martha Sitwell plagued by stalker who stood outside Kensington home making ‘strangling noises’, court hears

An aristocrat dubbed the ‘face of Royal Ascot’ was plagued by a stalker who stood outside her home staring at her and making ‘strangling noises’, a court heard.

Mirsad Veliji, 43, allegedly mounted a campaign of harassment against Lady Martha Sitwell, 45, between April and August 2022.

He stood in front of her Kensington flat staring in July 2022 and ‘made a strangling noise before watching Ms Sitwell’, Isleworth Crown Court heard.

On another occasion Veliji ‘cycled very close to Ms Sitwell and laughed out loud,’ it was said.

Jurors heard he was earlier convicted of assaulting a woman jogging alone in Chelsea in January 2022.

Veliji stared at her aggressively and walked towards her before grabbing her neck for five seconds, the court heard.

He attacked a second woman in Kensington in May 2022 after he grabbed by the neck, dragged her and tried to punch her near her home.

With his long grey hair in a ponytail he appeared in court accompanied by a mental health intermediary.

Questioned by his defence barrister Atalanta Sanders he said Lady Sitwell’s fear of him was ‘not his fault’.

Lady Martha Sitwell takes part in the first sidesaddle race for 90 years in Ingarsby, Leicestershire, in 2013

Asked if he remembered staring at her in April 2022, Veliji replied: ‘No’.

Ms Sanders asked: ‘In that time period do you remember wanting to make anyone uncomfortable, that was a lady, near where you live?’

‘No, no’, Veliji repeated.

He claimed he bumped into Lady Sitwell on the street in April 2022 and this was the ‘first and last’ time he met the socialite.

Veliji said she ‘put her hand up’ adding: ‘She was scared and I was scared – she went on her way, I continued on my way’, he said.

‘Do you remember trying to speak to her near her house in May?’, Ms Sanders asked.

‘No, no, no – I never tried to speak to her’, he replied.

Asked if he’d ever ‘cycled at a lady on purpose’, Veliji again responded: ‘No’.

John Livingston, prosecuting, asked Veliji: ‘Is it your case that everything that she said is a lie?’

‘It is a lie, sir, everything what she said is made up apart from when we met’, the man said.

The prosecutor said Veliji had been convicted following two incidents involving women in 2022.

Lady Sitwell (pictured at Ascot Ladies Day lunch in 2021) is now known for being the former ‘face of Ascot’ after being spotted by Vivienne Westwood 

Laura Whitmore, Philip Treacy, Kim Murdoch, Samantha Barks and Martha Sitwell attend Derby Day in 2013

‘Both incidents happened in the area where you lived. The first one involves a women who was jogging alone on Cromwell Road and what I say is that she bumped into you accidentally on the way and then looked back to apologise.

‘And then you started to stare at her, you walked back to her and you grabbed her neck for approximately five seconds.

‘She was able to break away from you but she had red marks around her neck.’

Veliji told jurors: ‘It is true, I pleaded guilty.’

‘You (also) grabbed a woman who lived in [X] just like Martha Sitwell – you grabbed her by the neck.’

Veliji replied: ‘They hit me with the arm, both of them, that’s why I reacted.

‘This is a question of you grabbing (the second woman) by the neck, dragging her head along the railings near her home and intending to punch her – and you pleaded guilty to doing all that.

‘The prosecution case is that Martha Sitwell was afraid that you were going to do something very similar to her, do you understand?’

‘I could have done it if she had hit me with the arm but with Martha nothing happened like that.’

Mr Livingston reminded Veliji of the evidence earlier given by Lady Sitwell’s former partner, wildlife photographer and TV host Charlie Hamilton James for the prosecution.

Lady Martha Sitwell attends the launch of Mimosa Riviera Cuisine London at The Langham with Cygnet Gin on April 3, 2024

‘Do you remember hearing Mr Hamilton James give evidence yesterday – the tall gentleman.

‘Do you remember him saying that he travelled all the way from Bristol because he was worried about the safety of Martha?’

Veliji repeated that he was ‘sorry for making Martha scared’ but said that being scared ‘could happen to anybody, even to me.’

In his closing speech, Mr Livingston asked jurors to consider the evidence provided by Mr Hamilton James.

‘He knew her well, certainly in the early part of the timespan that we’re dealing with.

‘He made it very clear: she is no snowflake.

‘This is quite a robust woman, she’s not a snowflake that’s easily frightened or somebody that’s easily intimidated.

‘The reality is that such was the defendant’s behaviour, that to an escalating degree she became increasingly fearful of him.

‘It started out with the staring and it went on to the attempts to engage in conversation, it goes on to loitering outside her home.

‘Clearly, she was sufficiently worried that she rang up Mr Hamilton James.

‘They’d split up at this time – were no longer going out together – he lives in Bristol, she lives in Kensington.

‘She told him that she had a stalker – he was obviously sufficiently concerned about the account that she gave that he took two weeks off to come down and stay with her, as he made clear yesterday, to make sure that she was safe and protected.’

Veliji denies two counts of stalking. The first alleges he caused fear of violence while the second alleges he caused ‘alarm or distress’.

The trial continues.