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Influencer Who Called Herself 'Devil Baby' Pleads Guilty to Stalking Premier League’s Mason Mount, Billy Gilmour
Orla Sloan pleaded guilty to stalking the two footballers and harassing Mount’s current Chelsea teammate Ben Chilwell.
After allegedly waging an unnerving, four-month stalking campaign in which she regularly issued threats to several Premier League footballers, social media influencer and model Orla Melissa Sloan pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a number of charges, according to the BBC.
The allegations include stalking Chelsea star Mason Mount, his former Blues teammate Billy Gilmour (who now plays for Brighton & Hove Albion), and harassing Mount’s current teammate at Stamford Bridge, Ben Chilwell.
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Utilizing an arsenal of phone numbers and social media accounts in attempts to access the athletes, Sloan, a 21-year-old from Exeter, England, allegedly mounted a vigorous crusade to tactically pursue the Premier League players. She exhaustively bombarded them with a myriad of threatening calls, texts, WhatsApp messages and Instagram posts — ones in which she crafted to turn their friends and family against them — according to the Evening Standard.
How did Mason Mount meet Orla Melissa Sloan?
As the legal proceedings unfolded, the Westminster Magistrates’ Court was made aware that Mount and the other footballers met Sloan in November 2020 during a party at the 26-year-old Chilwell’s home. Following the party, Mount and Sloan allegedly became intimate. Though they remained in communication for nearly six months after their romantic rendezvous, prosecutor Jason Seetal explained that Mount called it quits after he “decided that the relationship was not going to progress.”
Once Mount took steps to end the relationship, that’s when, according to Seetal, Sloan began peppering Mount with a barrage of messages. The incessant hounding led the 24-year-old Mount to block Sloan’s number, but as Seetal explained to the court, this was only the beginning.
"He [Mount] then began to receive messages from new numbers, and each time he would block those numbers, there would be messages from a different number," Seetal detailed.
After revealing to the court that Sloan used 21 different phone numbers to contact Mount, the prosecution conveyed to the court that Mount was “concerned she [Sloan] had an obsession or fixation with him, and he didn’t know what she was capable of.”
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In Mount’s statement, according to the BBC, the Chelsea star outlined why he was genuinely worried how far Sloan would take her stalking campaign.
“She [Sloan] knows roughly where I live, and where I train,” Mount’s statement read. “I am worried [that,] when unable to contact me, she might turn up at my training centre.”
In another alarming instance heard by the court, according to the Evening Standard, Sloan allegedly sent Mount a photo of herself buying new phone numbers, captioning the picture with, “I’m not buying food anymore, so I can get more numbers — I will be faster than you.”
“Some of the messages,” Seetal noted, “are apologetic, saying, ‘I really wanted to say sorry to you, talk to me and let me know how you feel.’”
Why does Orla Melissa Sloan call herself Devil Baby?
Shortly after the prosecution offered that some of Sloan’s texts to Mount were apologetic, Seetal then told the court how she allegedly proceeded to reveal her alter ego "Devil Baby" to Mount, adding the chilling threat, “You and Ben [Chilwell] will be destroyed.”
“Beware of Devil Baby, Mason,” Sloan allegedly wrote to Mount. “I can morph in a second.”
After she created the Instagram account devilbaby_10, Sloan allegedly besmirched Mount by branding him a “criminal” on the platform. She then paired the slanderous remarks with photo collages she created of Mount with other women, and she attempted to connect with his friends, family and work colleagues.
Sloan also allegedly created several similar photo collages of Chilwell in addition to making remarks online about his sexuality.
How has Orla Melissa Sloan’s alleged stalking campaign affected Billy Gilmour?
Sloan’s guilty plea also involved causing fear of violence, serious harm or distress against Gilmour between September 10 and October 28 of 2022. The Scottish footballer, who moved from Chelsea to Brighton & Hove Albion in September of last year, explained how Sloan’s constant messaging had a “huge impact” on his life, including his ability to perform as an elite athlete in England’s top flight.
According to the Evening Standard, though he had briefly messaged Sloan after they met at Chilwell’s 2020 house party, Gilmour conveyed to the court that Sloan’s stalking campaign negatively impacted his sleep, and he often worried that Sloan was actively destroying his relationships with his friends and family.
"I have not been able to sleep and have had to take sleeping tablets," detailed Gilmour. “It had a knock-on effect on my performance,” he said, adding that he was left “extremely stressed” and struck by “feelings of panic.”
The Scotsman also said Sloan even went as far to boldly claim that Gilmour impregnated her despite them never having sex.
“For a period of time, I was consistently receiving notifications of messages from Orla or contacted by people she was harassing,” continued Gilmour. “I was worried not only for myself but also those targeted by Orla.”
What sort of punishment does Orla Melissa Sloan face?
Sloan was released on unconditional bail by district judge Neeta Minhas, who warned the influencer that her case could be heard by the crown court, according to the BBC. If convicted, judge Minhas told Sloan she could face time in prison.
“The starting point for one offense crosses the custody threshold, and it was targeting of three different people,” Judge Minhas noted.
Sloan’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 20.
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