Man jailed for stalking Girls Aloud’s Cheryl Tweedy in Buckinghamshire

A man who stalked Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Tweedy has been jailed for 16 weeks after leaving the pop star “terrified” when he turned up at her home again.

Daniel Bannister had already been jailed for targeting the singer twice at her home, in the Chalfonts area of Buckinghamshire, when he returned on 10 December.

The 50-year-old, who was convicted of manslaughter in 2012, had been given a restraining order for turning up in January last year and saying “it’s Daniel, I’ve come to get Cheryl” and then returning in July asking for a glass of wine.

After showing up in December, he admitted harassment and the breach and attempted breach of his restraining order, and has now been sentenced again.

Tweedy said she “immediately panicked” and “feared for my safety” after seeing him on a security camera at her property in December, High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court heard.

He had been given a four-month jail term in September for the initial offences.

Jailing him again, District Judge Arvind Sharma also replaced Bannister’s existing three-year restraining order with a new one that would run indefinitely.

The judge said Bannister, of no fixed address, knew the singer was “very distressed and upset” by what he was doing.

He added that no mental health issue had been diagnosed.

Tweedy, who was not present in court, said in a statement she was able to watch footage of Bannister via her phone after he rang her doorbell in December.

She added that she “immediately panicked” and “feared for my safety”.

“I knew this was Daniel because I have had previous incidents where Daniel has come to my property,” she told police at the time.

“I was concerned he was looking for a way into the property.”

Tweedy told officers her son, Bear, was due back from the cinema, and she did not want him to see the stalker, the court heard.

“I want to protect my child from any harm,” she added.

Prosecutor Datta Ryan said Tweedy felt “violated, terrified and unsafe in her own home”.

The court was told Bannister used an intercom at Tweedy’s home in January 2024 and claimed he had “come to get Cheryl”.

Six months later, he again called at the house and said he was “really thirsty, I just want a glass of wine please”.

The most recent incident took place three weeks after Tweedy attended the funeral One Direction star Liam Payne in Amersham in Buckinghamshire. The pair had had a child together but had split up.

Payne died after falling from a balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in October.

Colin Mackrell, mitigating, told the judge his client Bannister “knows he should not have done what he did”.

“He has formed in his mind an affection for her,” said Mr Mackrell.

The barrister argued the stalker did not pose a “direct threat” to Tweedy.

Bannister asked the judge if he could read a statement to the court, but was advised not to by his lawyer.

In an unrelated case, Bannister had also been jailed for killing Rajendra Patel, 48, at a south London YMCA homeless shelter in 2012.

Mr Patel died 15 days after he was attacked in Croydon on 21 February that year.

He was taken to hospital where he was treated for bruising and swelling to the left side of his face, a broken nose and a fractured ankle.

Three weeks later he died of a pulmonary thromboembolism, due to deep venous thrombosis of the left femoral vein due to a recent fracture of his left ankle, which was treated with a plaster cast.

Bannister admitted manslaughter and was jailed for two and a half years at Kingston Crown Court.

Following the latest sentencing at High Wycombe, the Crown Prosecution Service’s Kathleen O’Callaghan said: “The unwanted attention of offenders like Daniel Bannister can leave victims feeling alarmed and fearful.

“Bannister plainly disregarded a previous restraining order, and the Crown Prosecution Service argued these deliberate breaches were made more serious by the fact that they were committed so shortly after the order was made.”

Bannister has already spent three months in prison on remand awaiting sentence and be could be released in a matter of weeks.