British man is found guilty of stalking US influencer he followed to Bali with rope in suitcase after bombarding her with 'creepy' messages and kidnap threats
Rob Keating sent 'incessant and constant' messages to Alexandra Saper in which he shared his graphic sexual fantasies including that he would 'go 50 Shades of Grey' on her and wanted to abduct her.
The 39-year-old went 'from follower to stalker' after becoming obsessed with her posts on Instagram, booking a one way ticket to the tropical Indonesian paradise while warning her to 'get kidnap insurance'.
He visited bars and restaurants just metres from her home and continued to message her whilst she was in Bali, telling her 'you're never getting rid of me'.
Ms Saper - a former lawyer who now makes money from her Instagram page 'The Wayfarer' which has more than 100,000 followers - told the court she fled the country because she was so 'terrified' he would find her.
In a video about her ordeal, posted at the time, Ms Saper also said she felt she was being 'hunted like prey'.
On his return to the UK in March 2023, Keating was arrested by police who found black rope and a tie in his suitcase.
Keating told police in an interview that he was not sexually attracted to Ms Saper, but said that 'she had shown an interest in him and there could be something there' between the two.
In videos he often referred to the influencer as his 'Spartan Queen', a nickname he had given her.
He continued to stalk Ms Saper between September and November 2024, at which point he lived in Horsham in West Sussex.
Keating posted a picture of a plane ticket from London to Bali with the caption 'round 2' on his Instagram in November.
Keating was subsequently arrested.
The traffic worker was found guilty of two counts of stalking involving serious alarm or distress on Wednesday afternoon at Portsmouth Crown Court after a jury took just two hours to convict him.
Judge Michael Bowes KC told Keating a prison sentence was 'inevitable'.
Ms Bull had described Keating as 'indulging' in a 'wilful self delusion' involving a 'one dimensional' version of the influencer as he 'moved from follower to stalker'.
She told jurors: 'He began to indulge in wilful self-delusion, all those genuine emotions he felt from following was not enough,' she said.
'The person he started fantasising about was entirely one dimensional, they are a character he has never met.
'It is her job to make people feel better about themselves but that is just one part of Ms Saper.'
The prosecutor added: 'When Ms Saper's generic posts were not enough for him he wanted to take it to the next level.
'What he wanted was her attention on him.'
She continued: 'Her job is to appeal to a wider audience and he knows that, this is a wilful delusion.
'Does this justify his behaviour? He provides himself with an excuse, he tries to convince himself Ms Saper is trying to contact him, it is just his fantasy.'
The traffic worker, who lived in his sister's garage in Havant, Hampshire, first contacted Ms Saper on Instagram in July 2022 with a 'weird and creepy' message to which the influencer responded 'dude, why are you following me if you don't like my content?'
She blocked Keating on the social media platform after he shared extracts from the erotic S&M novel 50 Shades of Grey.
However, he then began bombarding her with videos and messages over email and used another profile to continue viewing her posts, which he believed were secret messages to him.
Ms Saper tried to block his emails too but that just sent them to her spam folder.
The court was shown over an hour of footage from these videos in which Keating told Ms Saper to get 'kidnap insurance' and that he was going to 'spank' her.
He told her she was 'allowing him' to 'run with it' regarding his contact with her, but added: 'Either that, or you're not interested and not watching these videos and I've lost my mind or something.'
In a video from December 2022, Keating said: 'You're going to have to reply to me eventually - there's talk about coming to Bali to get you.'
In February 2023 he did travel to Bali, posting a picture of the plane he was about to board with the caption 'let the games begin'.
Ms Saper was so concerned that she fled to the nearby Southeast Asian country of Laos to put distance between her and Keating.
Giving evidence at court, the influencer said she 'didn't think' he would actually make the trip to the tropical island.
'I blocked him on everything and never responded, so that was a pretty clear indication of not wanting contact,' Ms Saper added.
'I was aware that he was talking about coming to Bali, but I didn't think it would actually happen.
'I shared because I wanted my life back, there was nothing I could do staying in hiding,' she said. 'I was sick, I couldn't eat, I was depressed.'
In his own evidence Keating had tried to claim the kidnap threats were just 'playful ridiculousness' and that the ordeal had had 'no adverse effect' on Ms Saper.
He tried to tell the court that because of the Anchorman memes on his Instagram profile there was no way she would take him seriously.
He will be sentenced at a later date.
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