Obsessed driving instructor who stalked 17-year-old Yorkshire student jailed after breaching his restraining order

Graham Mansie, 53, stalked Maisie Relph, now 19, over a four-month period between July and October last year. He created a TikTok account called 'For Maisie' which featured a red heart emoji and the bio "my favourite". The instructor asked her out for drinks and showered her with unwanted gifts, posing on WhatsApp as a male first-year student. He lost hundreds of pounds trying to pay dark web fraudsters to hack her social media accounts.

Mansie, from Beckenham in south east London, pleaded guilty to one count of stalking, and was given an eight-week jail term, suspended for a year, in May this year.

But the court heard today (Sep 21) just nine days later the stalker got in his car and drove 220 miles to York.

One of Maisie's flatmates saw Mansie sitting on the grass under her window, rocking, when he returned from work around 11pm, the court heard today. The frightened students called security, who found wounds on his wrists, and he handed over Stanley blades.

Mansie was finally jailed for 20 months, at York Crown Court. He was given 16 months for breach of a restraining order, two months for possession of blades, and his suspended sentence of two months was activated, all to run consecutively.

Speaking just before sentencing, Maisie said she feared he was going to use the knives to persuade her to go with him, or sexually assault her.

Maisie, a psychology in education student from Bromley, south-east London, said: "It was awful - an absolute nightmare. I only got nine days of freedom. I was convinced he wouldn't break the restraining order but I guess that was too good to be true. I was all about rehabilitation before but he's shown he needs to be in custody because it's just not safe for me, my friends, or him for him to be out.

"My flatmates said I was like a different person in those nine days - I was so chilled and smiling. I really thought I'd got my life back, but it all went wrong again. This whole situation has made me very cautious. I can't go out on my own anymore."

Maisie signed up for ten lessons with Mansie, who is originally from York but is studuing in London, in July 2020 and ended up having 32 in total. Mansie, 33 years older than the sixth-former, taught around 15 of her pals who had all passed their tests and recommended him, but he soon became creepy.

He started calling her his favourite, invited her out for drinks, and talked for much of the two-hour lessons about wanting to be in a relationship with someone, she claims. One of her friends said he kept telling them he had a student he wanted a relationship with, she said.

Maisie changed her clothing and cut her hair into a bob after the police advised she change how she looked when Mansie was on bail.

He was given an eight-week jail term suspended for a year at Bromley magistrates' court on May 18. He was told to complete 30 rehabilitation days and visit the Stalking Threat Assessment Centre to get help.

The court was told he had already breached his bail conditions twice by contacting her on Instagram and WhatsApp. Then he turned up outside her flat in York on May 27, the court heard.

The court heard Mansie was unable to answer any questions in interview with the police but gave a prepared statement which said he wanted to kill himself after reports of the original case had been circulated on social media sites.

She said: "I knew it was him as soon as I saw him sitting there - he was rocking back and forth and crying. He must be very ill. His image is imprinted on my brain. I'm not able to forget sadly. I could identify him anywhere from his Arsenal football top and his hair. I've thought about changing my name, and even emigrating to Australia.

"I don't want to do that though; I love my life and I don't want to change it, and I can't let everything revolve around him. I also think that if he wants to find me he will. I definitely have post-traumatic stress from this. Every time I see a red Ford Fiesta or someone in a football shirt I panic, even though he's been in custody since May. It's hard to describe how awful it is to worry about when this will end.

"He's 53, so this could theoretically carry on for at least another 20 years."