'Obsessive': UK chess master jailed for stalking, defaming woman; she repeatedly turned him down

A UK chess master has been sentenced to 28 months in prison for stalking and defaming a university student who refused to rekindle a past relationship .

Paul Keevil, 55, who is married and acts as a carer for his wife, had been giving money to the woman, then in her 20s, after engaging in intimate relations with her on several occasions, The Metro reported, citing the public prosecutor.

“They first met on a dating website in 2018 and began a relationship that she ended in December of that year. From 2019, they remained in contact, and from time to time, the defendant gave her sums of money, which she sometimes requested — and on one occasion after the end of the relationship they engaged in consensual intimate sexual activity,” prosecutor Tom Farr told Bolton Crown Court.

“Though their relationship ended, in 2021 Keevil wanted to rekindle it. She declined, and he began a campaign of defamation ,” Farr added.

Over a five-month period, Keevil, described as “obsessed,” publicly humiliated his former girlfriend, falsely labelling her a "sex worker" in an attempt to have her removed from her university course and dismissed from the children’s nursery where she worked.

“The defendant repeatedly threatened that unless she paid him a sum of money, he would disclose to others that she had worked as a sex worker. These malicious threats were designed to manipulate and control her. He told her that unless she complied, he would spread this fiction to members of her family, to her university, to her employer, and to OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills),” the prosecutor added.

Keevil also stalked the homes of the woman and her mother, followed her boyfriend, photographed his car, and sent thousands of menacing messages demanding compliance. He even called a hospital maternity unit while she was giving birth, falsely claiming to be the child’s father.

The victim said Keevil’s actions left her feeling “suicidal” and living in "constant fear."

Keevil's 'apology'

Defence counsel Louise Cowen issued "apology" on Keevil's behalf, saying: "He wishes to apologise to the complainant and her family. He is deeply sorry for the hurt and distress his actions have caused. At the time, he did not fully appreciate what he was doing and had a genuine belief that he was entitled to recover some sums he had paid to the complainant.”

However, the judge, Jeremy Lasker would have none of it.

“You subjected the complainant to a sustained course of conduct aimed at pressuring her into resurrecting an intimate relationship with you and demanding repayment of monies which you had previously gifted to her.

You consistently refused to take no for an answer — you were effectively blackmailing her. She has found herself almost unable to cope with life and has been driven to consider suicide as the only way out of a set of circumstances which you imposed upon her through your obsessive and unrelenting behaviour. She has described her life as a nightmare from which even now she can see little escape.”