AceShowbiz - A stalker who targeted Sophie Ellis-Bextor has been threatened with criminal prosecution if he doesn't stop contacting the singer on Instagram.

Nishil Patel has been accused of sending abusive messages to the "Murder on the Dancefloor" hitmaker, and leaving strange gifts at a neighbor's home, believing it to be the star's. He also repeatedly showed up outside the property.

During proceedings at the City of London Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, November 24, prosecutor Felix Keating said Patel had targeted the 42-year-old star after briefly meeting her in July 2020, sending her "hundreds of concerning and upsetting messages."

Keating told the court he continued to contact her over social media after she blocked his account, messaging her under another username.

Patel was previously warned by police to leave Ellis-Bextor alone, but he continued to show up outside a house he mistook as the one belonging to the singer.

He was arrested in April after ringing the doorbell and leaving a sticker on a car. He also left a wallet and messaged her to say, "the wallet is blue, not black like your soul."

Patel also allegedly contacted Ellis-Bextor's musician husband, Richard Jones, and one of their five children, online. In a statement from the singer, she said her stalker's behavior had "really unsettled" her.

Defiant Patel did not contest the allegations and, when asked about any objections, he replied, "Please make the order."

Ellis-Bextor was awarded a protection order and now Patel will face criminal prosecution if he contacts the singer, physically approaches her, or visits her address over the next five years.