The granddaughter of Princess Alexandria and Royal Household staff at Kensington Palace were harassed on their personal social media by a pest, obsessed with contacting the Duke of Gloucester, a court heard.
Pest: Jack Oliver Lyons
Zenouska Mowatt, 34, the childhood friend of Princess Eugenie, who is 59th in line to the throne, gave evidence at City of London Magistrates’ Court, along with the other victims.
Jobless Jack Oliver Lyons, 31, was convicted of harassing her and former Army officer Alastair Todd, Chief of Staff and principal advisor to the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.
He was also convicted of harassing Mr Todd’s PA Chelsea Pearce and Royal Household programme co-ordinator Jemima Hobbs.
District Judge Michael Snow found Lyons guilty of harassing Ms Mowatt - the great-great-granddaughter of King George V - between January 28, 2023 and May 9, last year.
She received three Instagram messages from Lyons in 2023. “She described that they unnerved her and she found them unsettling,” announced the judge.
“After unblocking him he was again following her within a day and she found that particularly unsettling.”
There was further Instagram contact on November 19, 2023 and earlier LinkedIn contact in March and April that same year.
Ms Mowatt told the trial: “I was unnerved and upset.”
“She was closely followed online by him and not surprisingly she was unnerved and upset,” added Judge Snow. “The conduct was calculated to achieve that end.”
Ms Mowatt was also contacted on her work email in September, 2023 and again on LinkedIn in May, last year.
Lyons was always polite, but persistent in trying to communicate with the Duke of Gloucester, who he was convinced could assist him with a legal music copyright issue.
The Duke’s private secretary Mr Todd told the court the constant phone calls from Lyons were “very annoying in a busy office” and he was concerned about the effect it was having on his young staff.
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| L to R: Jemima Hobbs; Alastair Todd; Zenouska Mowatt & Chelsea Pearce |
Judge Snow convicted Lyons of harassing Mr Todd between February 13, 2023 and August 28, last year. “I am quite satisfied Mr Todd was alarmed and distressed by the continual contact.”
The first phone call was in January, 2023 and was followed-up by emails and contact via LinkedIn.
Lyons even personally attended Kensington Palace, claiming he had an appointment with the Duke of Gloucester, HRH Prince Richard.
A total of eleven emails were sent from Lyons’ home and were blocked, resulting in the defendant using a new email address to continue contact.
Eventually an exasperated Mr Todd agreed to personally take a phone call from Lyons. “He told Lyons in no uncertain terms to stop the calls.
“The fact that there was no contact by Lyons after being told to stop is evidence that he was not delusional,” said Judge Snow.
“In fairness Mr Todd did not say he was caused alarm or distress, but found it very annoying. The conduct amounted to criminal conduct and contact continued in breach of his bail conditions.”
Ms Pearce, who attended Wiltshire’s private Stonar School, which has annual boarding fees up to £50,000, told the one-day trial she received two telephone calls from Lyons on April 2, last year, asking to speak to the Duke of Gloucester.
She received calls from two different phone numbers two days later. “The second call was slightly more forceful and aggressive,” she told the trial.
“He made contact via my LinkedIn, Instagram and twitter and also asked the office to be able to speak to Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.
“I was quite alarmed as it is rare someone would call three times in quick succession. It is quite alarming,” added Ms Pearce.
She did not reply to any of Lyons’ messages to her personal social media and dismissed his claim he met her in a Peterborough pub ten years ago, when she was underage anyway.
“I did feel it was an invasion into my personal life. I don’t live behind police-manned gates and I commute into work everyday.
“It is, in my eyes, harassment and very unsettling and I believe it could be potentially threatening with the amount of contact. I am a young woman and this is an older male.”
Ms Hobbs, who attended £57,000 a year private girls’ boarding school Benenden in Kent told the court she received four telephone calls from Lyons, using three different mobile numbers.
“It was quite unsettling because they were different phone numbers and it makes you feel quite uncomfortable.
“I had no idea who this person was and no idea of what he was talking about.”
After the calls to the office in April and May, last year Ms Hobbs was contacted by Lyons via LinkedIn on May 9, claiming he had a “legal emergency” and needed to speak to the Duke of Gloucester ASAP.
“It is very distressing and quite concerning that he has stalked me online, found my surname and gone to the effort to message me.
“It is horrible and not very nice, especially as a young female and not knowing who this person is.”
Lyons has never denied he was the person making contact and was arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Royalty and Specialist Protection.
Lyons’ lawyer James Martin submitted the charges should be dismissed. “They are all public-facing media accounts and the whole point of them is to allow people to contact you.
“They are designed to make it easy to contact you.”
The trial heard medical evidence which described Lyons as “educated and intelligent” but unable to properly understand his contact was “legally or morally wrong.”
However, prosecutor Mr Jonathan Bryan said: “He was pushing the boundaries and seeing what he could get away with.
“Mr Todd may have struck you as a stiff upper lip person who would not exaggerate the situation,” the prosecutor told Judge Snow. “He made efforts to block Lyons’ phone.
“Lyons attempted to visit the Duke of Gloucester and all of the other three complainants give evidence that he sought out their social media and tried to contact them.
“The fact that a stranger can contact them is not an invitation to do so and all four witnesses have given evidence of the effect it has had on them, the effect the harassment has had on them.
“They found the calls to the office unsettling and Lyons was someone known in the office as constantly calling beyond annoyance and irritation.
“He knew what he was doing was wrong and used different numbers to call because he knew he should not have been calling in the first place,” added Mr Bryan.”
Mr Martin said there was a less sinister reason his client was utilising different phone numbers. “He is trying to make contact and his number is blocked.
“He is just trying to get around a practical impediment and his behaviour was always polite, but persistent.”
Judge Snow found Lyons harassed Ms Pearce between April 2 and May 9, last year. “These are her personal accounts and it is easy to see why she found this disturbing and alarming.”
The Judge also convicted his of harassing Ms Hobbs between April 15 and May 9, last year. “This is a man who was seeking out individual victims.
“Ms Hobbs said she was concerned she was being stalked. She found that quite horrible and upsetting and I am satisfied she found that alarming and distressing.”
Lyons, who has never worked and relies on family financial support was conditionally discharged for two years and ordered to pay a £26 victim surcharge.
“I have taken an exceptional course,”Judge Snow told Lyons, who did not give evidence in the trial.
He also made him subject to a five-year restraining order, prohibiting contact with the four victims; the office of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester; the Royal Household switchboard and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.
“If you do contact the victims you will be in serious trouble,” Judge Snow told the first-time offender.
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