Solicitor convicted of stalking court blogger

A solicitor has been convicted of stalking a legal blogger after sending what a judge described as “aggressive threats of litigation” and “uninvited sexual innuendo”.

Andrew Jonathan Milne, 63, was found guilty of stalking without fear following a seven-day trial at Stratford Magistrates’ Court. He had denied the charge.

District Judge Towell said Milne’s conduct towards court blogger Daniel Cloake in 2024 amounted to harassment. The court heard Milne sent around 120 emails, left two voicemails on Cloake’s birthday, sent him a book, and was seen on doorbell footage at Cloake’s home. The judge also referred to evidence that he had been “loitering outside” the address.

Milne claimed he had an intimate relationship with Cloake and said Cloake had declared love for him. The judge rejected that account, saying it conflicted with the content of the emails and accepting Cloake’s evidence that their contact was limited to brief chats at court hearings and two lunches at the Law Society.

Cloake told the court he had emailed Milne only once. The judge said Cloake responded to just one message, a simple “thanks” about case timings, and ignored the rest. She said Cloake’s “wall of silence” made it clear the contact was unwanted, describing the communications as “oppressive and unreasonable”.

The judge said Cloake felt “unnerved, worried and scared”, and concluded he was caused alarm and distress. She added that as Milne received no replies, the tone of his emails became increasingly erratic and included threats of legal action. His claim that those threats were a joke was found “not credible”.

Milne will be sentenced at Thames Magistrates’ Court next month.