Harry Styles’ stalker imprisoned and banned from contacting pop star
A woman has been jailed for stalking pop star and actor Harry Styles by sending him 8,000 greeting cards in less than a month.
Brazilian citizen Myra Carvalho, 35, was back at Harrow Crown Court, sitting at Hendon Magistrates’ Court in London, last week where she pled guilty to the charge of stalking involving serious alarm or distress.
She was sentenced to 14 weeks’ imprisonment and a restraining order lasting for 10 years was also imposed on Carvalho, under which she cannot attend any event where Harry is performing, enter a specific area of north-west London, or contact the star directly or indirectly, plus she has to pay a victim surcharge of £134.
The woman first appeared at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on 23 December, having been staying in a backpackers’ hostel in London when she ordered the deluge of greeting cards online – understood to include some wedding designs – to be sent to his home, along with some handwritten letters, two of which had been hand-delivered.
Having been remanded in custody, the first crown court hearing in February heard Carvalho had arrived in the UK in December from her home in Brazil, and neither her partner nor family were aware she was here.
Her barrister, Clementine Simon, said Caravalho’s doctor in Brazil believed she was suffering from a “manic episode” and had questioned if she was fit to enter a plea, but the case was sent to be heard at the same court on 19 April.
The stalking happened after the former One Direction star had recently returned from a romantic Caribbean getaway with his actress girlfriend Taylor Russell 29, and a Daily Mail source said: “Harry was really shaken up. He had spent the start of the month in Anguilla with Taylor and James Corden and he’d had a great break.
‘This happened not long after he had come back. Harry just wants to carry on as normal, but this has been concerning.”
While Royal Mail managed to deliver all 8,000 greeting cards to Harry’s home quickly, elsewhere the postal giant has been criticised for taking 8½ years to get a first birthday card to its destination – then fine the recipient for using an out-of-date stamp!
Six months shy of his 10th birthday, Alfie Wilson was surprised to receive a card through the letter box at home in Reading, and dad Richard was intrigued to recognise his sister’s handwriting on the envelope and opened it to find the message “To Alfie, lots of love on your first birthday. From Auntie Sally and Uncle Pat”.
Richard told the BBC: ““When we realised it had been sent nearly nine years ago, I told my sister who lives in Yorkshire and she said ‘I bet you thought I hadn’t bothered’!
“I find it very amusing to think it could have been lying on the floor of a collection office, or someone moved some furniture to find it all these years later and it’s only just found its way back into the system.”
He’d had to pay £2.50 to receive the card as there was a sticker saying the stamp wasn’t valid because it didn’t have the barcode introduced in 2022 but Richard complained and Royal Mail eventually gave a £10.80 refund, a book of eight first-class stamps and a £10 cheque for Alfie as a gesture of goodwill.
Royal Mail said it “could not speculate” on where the card had been since it was posted, and a spokesman added: “We deliver billions of letters successfully every year. Unfortunately, on this occasion, the customer did not receive this high standard of service.”
