The ‘devil baby’, three Chelsea

footballers and the scars left by a

stalker
Peter Rutzler

It is November 2021, and Ben Chilwell is holding a party at his home

in Surrey.

The guest list is fairly typical for a footballer’s gathering, and

includes Chilwell’s Chelsea team-mates, Mason Mount and Billy
Gilmour. Also present is Orla Sloan, a 21-year-old social media
influencer with more than 90,000 followers on Instagram. She
regularly posts pictures and videos of herself, such as on luxury trips
to Greece and Indonesia, and is an ambassador for Los Angeles-
based retailer Fashion Nova.

So far, so normal. But that night set in motion a chain of events that
would cast a shadow over the lives of those three Chelsea players
and ultimately lead to a suspended prison sentence for Sloan, which
was handed down on Tuesday at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

This is the story of what happened.

The events of the evening itself and its immediate aftermath are fairly
easy to process.

Sloan met Mount at the party, and they would later sleep together.
This would be a one-night thing and, while they kept loose contact,
Mount, 24, made clear that he had no intention of entering a
relationship.
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 But, after telling Sloan he no longer wished to remain in contact,
things took a more concerning turn.

“Unfortunately she thought there was more to it,” said barrister

Michael Cogan, speaking for the defence on Tuesday in court 7. “She
is not only young but also naive.”

Cogan pointed out that she had recently moved to London, the first
time she had lived in a major city. “She believed there was something
in the circumstances, when everyone else knew there was nothing,”
he added.

Seeking clarity over their relationship would ultimately lead to a

harassment charge.

The court heard how Sloan continued to message Mount after he

said he no longer wanted to remain in contact, and then, after
blocking her number, she changed it 20 times to keep contacting
him. Mount kept blocking the numbers, but the messages did not
relent.
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 Sloan arrives at Westminster Magistrates’ Court (Photo: Jordan Pettitt/PA Images via
Getty Images)

“The messages implied that she just wanted to talk to Mount and
that she would not bother him afterwards, but since he did not reply
the messages became more menacing,” said Dmytro Palamarchuk,
speaking for the prosecution.

One message, the court heard, outlined that she had been following
his new relationships: “I found out about Bethany, Esme, and more – I
will find out everything,” it said. A screenshot of Sloan buying more
phone numbers was accompanied by the caption: “I’m not buying
food anymore so I can get more numbers. I will be faster than you.”

Some of the messages were apologetic: “I really want to say sorry

and if you could just talk to me and tell me how you feel I would really
appreciate it.” But the messages became “random and erratic”,
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 according to Palamarchuk.

The court heard of how Sloan had informed Mount she had an alter-
ego – the ‘devil baby’. “You and Ben (Chilwell) will be destroyed,” she
told him. “Beware of the devil baby Mason, I can morph at any
second.”

The contact went beyond just Mount directly. On social media, Sloan
posted collages of photos with other women who followed or knew
him. “The defendant began spreading lies about Mr Mount to his
friends, team-mates and family,” said Palamarchuk. “This was all out
in the open, where thousands of people freely view the content.”

Mason Mount (Photo: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)

In his impact statement, Mount outlined that he had made clear he

no longer wished to have contact with Sloan, but she ignored that
and that he was “concerned she had an obsession or fixation with
him and he didn’t know what she was capable of”. The reason he
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 contacted the police, he stated, was because “she knew roughly
where he lived and trained.”

“I’m worried as if she is unable to contact me, she might turn up at

my training centre,” he said.

The harassment of Mount took place from June to October 2022.

But as Mount shut the door, Sloan turned to Chilwell to try to get
through to his Chelsea team-mate.

When Chilwell did not oblige, she began to harass him as well.
During late October, Sloan used Instagram, under the handle
‘devilbaby_10,’ to post collages of Chilwell with other women, along
with captions claiming she had gone through an abortion “like a few
of us had to”, the court heard.

A post also referred to ‘Gary Lineker’s list of closeted gay players’,

and implied homosexual activity. Chilwell, the prosecution said, tried
to tell her to leave them alone, sending her a message which read:
“This is getting weird and is harassment”. Similarly to Mount, in his
victim statement, he expressed concern about what she was capable
of.

It was Gilmour, though, that suffered more than the others, with
Sloan’s behaviour towards him leading to the most serious charge of
stalking with fear of violence.

Gilmour, 22, met Sloan at the party but the court heard that she did
not make contact with him until summer 2022. It was around this
time that he completed a transfer from Chelsea to Brighton, to begin
a new chapter in his career.
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 Billy Gilmour (Photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Gilmour informed Sloan that he didn’t want any further contact, but
also then faced a message “bombardment”. He ignored them, the
prosecution outlined, and blocked her, but on Instagram, Sloan set
up multiple accounts to contact him, as well as “several business
accounts so she could get through”.

The messages were threatening, and she told him that no matter
how often he changed his Instagram handle, she knew all of those he
followed on his private account and added: “‘I will hunt you down,
Orla x.”.

She then expanded the circle of those she contacted, targeting

Gilmour’s friends and family. “This escalated when the defendant
contacted Mr Gilmour’s aunt,” said Palamarchuk. “She said: ‘I’m not
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 sure which member of his family you are but Billy is a bad, bad boy’
and that ‘he slept with me and never, never spoke to me again’.” The
prosecution clarified there had been no relationship.

This led to Gilmour changing his phone number, as well as his name
on his private Instagram account and then, ultimately, to cut off
contact with friends and female acquaintances, in order to protect
them from Sloan. In an earlier hearing, it was said Brighton
introduced extra security measures, while Gilmour stated he had
been taking sleeping pills.

“I’ve done everything to avoid the messages,” he said in his victim

statement. “It’s damaged relationships and friendships I already had.
I don’t know who I can trust anymore. Some of the information would
only have been known by people close to me.”

He said he found it upsetting and distressing, particularly as he had

just moved to a new area and led to extra worry while staying in a
hotel. “It’s had a negative effect on my performance and professional
life,” he added. “It has affected me and those around me. I want the
contact to stop to get on with my life.”

Gilmour’s ordeal took place between September and October 2022.

After the police were contacted, Sloan was charged and pleaded
guilty to two charges of stalking and one of harassment without
violence. The prosecution, at the sentencing hearing, said that she
admitted to bombarding Mount, saying that she was upset at being
ignored by him, and admitted the numerous messages to contact
Chilwell to get to Mount. She also admitted to contacting Gilmour as
she was upset about comments she thought he had made to Mount
or other players.

How to explain this behaviour? Cogan, taking the word of Sloan’s

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 mother, who was present in the court, stated that she is “addicted”
to social media.

“Ms Sloan is sucked into world of instant gratification, achieved only

by being with other more successful people, and is obsessed with
the way she looks and how other people view her. She has been
extremely immature and naive. And as a result of that, vulnerable.”

Cogan stated that one of the victims’ former partners had been in
touch with Sloan and they had collaborated on multiple accounts to
attack the footballers. “Suffice to say the reality has now hit,” said
Cogan. “She is extremely sorry that she took matters to the level that
she did, and asked specifically through me to publicly apologise to
each and every one of the complainants.”

At her sentencing, chairwoman of the bench, Alison Gowman,

outlined that Sloan had engaged in “sustained and deliberate
attempts to harass and stalk these individuals”. Sloan was handed a
prison sentence of 12 weeks, suspended for 18 months, as well as
200 hours of unpaid community service, 30 days rehabilitation
requirement and she was also handed a five-year restraining order.
The latter prevents her from contacting Mount, Chilwell or Gilmour,
directly or indirectly. She must also pay a £154 surcharge, £85 in
costs, and £1,100 in compensation.

Stalking is not unheard of, for a footballer. Like any celebrity, their
position in the public eye attracts a particular level of devotion, which
can spiral out of control. An extreme example was Napoli’s Fabio
Quagilarella, who was stalked by a police officer claiming to be
helping him, over four years. This forced him, ultimately, to leave
Napoli, his hometown club, after just a year.
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 Fabio Quagliarella (Photo: Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)

This past season has been a forgettable one for Mount, Chilwell and
Gilmour. Mount’s season has been interrupted by a pelvis injury, and
his form has dipped along with that of his club: he provided just three
goals and six assists, compared to 13 goals and 16 assists last
season. His future in west London is in doubt with his contract due to
expire next year, amid interest from Manchester United.

Chilwell, too, has faced hamstring injuries, that have limited him to 15
starts. For Gilmour, his new start at Brighton has taken time to yield
returns. His first consistent run of games did not start until late April
of this year. 

The trio will be keen to put this campaign behind them, and not just
on the field. Orla Sloan may have been brought to account, but the
psychological scars may take time to heal.

(Top photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images; Jordan Pettitt/PA

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 Images via Getty Images; Julian Finney/Getty Images; design:
Samuel Richardson)
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