Man stalked bus driver for decades who he believed was 1950s pop star Johnnie Ray

Furnival mentioned in a letter that he became jealous when Ray took his wife Jane to a restaurant and saw them kissing, and he also sent Ray CDs and DVDs of Johnny Ray.

The Rays knew nothing about Furnival or what he looked like. They tried several times to report him to the police and handed over a large number of letters he had sent them, but the police took no action, claiming the letters were harmless.

In 1979, they hired a lawyer to file a civil lawsuit against his torturer, which resulted in him being jailed for contempt of a court order, but Furnival still refused to give up his bizarre obsession.

During this painful period, the Rays never let their sons go out to play because they looked like their father and they were worried that Furnival would target them. In order to get rid of Furnival, they moved and even changed their last names, but Furnival eventually caught up with them and they started writing letters and sending gifts again.

Furnival, from Runcorn, CheshireHe was eventually arrested in 2023 after the Rays used surveillance cameras to capture him delivering letters and a package of CDs to their door during a postal strike.

He had previously sent them a Christmas card with a letter inside which read: “In 2023 I will burn £100 ($214), in 2024 I will burn £200, in 2025 I will burn £300 and stuff it through your letterbox until it reaches £1,000. Money is of no use to me unless I can buy your picture, John Ray.” He wrote in the letter: “Kenneth Furnival, a man who knows too much.”

Fearing that an arson might be imminent, police searched Furnivall’s home and found a secretly taken photo of Ray 35 years earlier on his bedroom wall. In an interview, he spoke fondly of Ray’s namesake, who was known as the “Prince of Weeping” for his ballads. cry and Please Mr. Sunand died in 1990.

In court, Jean Ray, 73, who married her husband in 1973, recounted their ordeal as Furnival was jailed after admitting stalking. Persistent state of anxiety,” she says.

“His letter made comments about my husband’s blond hair and the singer Johnny Ray. Even though I was taking care of my mother, she asked us to leave her home.

“Some people also made comments about my child’s behaviour which really frightened me because my son was 3 years old at the time, had blond hair and blue eyes, and therefore he had to put up with the most overbearing mother.

“I had never met this man. I had no idea where he was, but he was able to comment on everything we did. Our second son was born 12 years after the first and he was also blond, so that was another concern.

“This man seemed to know everything. We still didn’t know who he was, just his name, not who or what he was. I could spend the entire day with him and not even know him. My children were never out of my sight for too long. They couldn’t go to the park unless I allowed them to. They had almost no freedom growing up. It had become a way of life.”

She added: “I’m stuck now. Replay FlashbackIt was horrible. I couldn’t get over it. I was laughed at for years, and I wasn’t wrong.

“We live in a house now with cameras all around us and the pressure has affected my relationships with other people.

“I have to raise children and overreact because I’m worried about their safety, and it’s affecting my marriage. I’ve been suffering from this harassment for 50 years of my life. It’s an absolute nightmare. I feel insecure, angry, scared, and I feel like this will never end.”

In mitigation, Furnival’s lawyer Sarah Badrawy said her client suffered from “mental and neurodevelopmental disorders”, adding: “He is particularly vulnerable to stress and can be easily led and manipulated.”

But sentencing Judge Michael Leeming told Furnival: “The fact that you have harbored a fascination and obsession with your complainant for over 50 years shows that this offending was not an isolated act on your part and is not consistent with your character.

“You regularly sent unwanted gifts, DVDs, CDs and letters to his address and stalked him. Similar conduct occurred as early as 1964. These letters caused Mr Ray and his wife great distress.”

Summing up Furnival’s actions, he said: “These crimes were highly planned and persistent.”

Furnival was served with an indefinite restraining order prohibiting him from contacting the Rays, who subsequently declined to comment.

Danielle Reece-Greenhalgh, partner at Corker Binning law firm, said: “This is a case where the defendant was not properly investigated by the police for a very long period of time.

“Harassment lasting over 50 years is almost unheard of, and the police inaction perhaps reflects outdated attitudes about how stalking manifests itself and the ‘typical’ offenders and victims of harassment and stalking.”