A person has been handed a two-year restraining order and an 18-month neighborhood order for stalking Liverpool Girls’s participant Marie Hobinger.
Mangal Dalal, 42, despatched repeated inappropriate and sexualised messages to Hobinger on Instagram over a three-week interval from January 27, 2024, earlier than later ready for her by the facet of the pitch following a match.
Dalal, of Hyde Park Gardens, Westminster, despatched the 24-year-old Austrian worldwide photos of his underwear, in addition to a message saying ‘I wish to have your infants’. He additionally despatched her particulars of her tackle and postcode and advised him he cherished her and ‘wished that we had slept collectively’. Dalal used two Instagram accounts to contact her.
In February 2024, Dalal, who works in funding with a ‘robust revenue’, travelled from London to Manchester to attend Liverpool Girls’s Tremendous League (WSL) away match in opposition to Manchester Metropolis to see her.
Hobinger had alerted the membership to the messages and, attributable to considerations for her security, was assigned a security officer by the membership to accompany her to matches.
In the course of the sport at Manchester Metropolis’s Joie Stadium, a steward recognized Dalal within the crowd and raised the alarm. He was subsequently questioned by police, throughout which he admitted the conduct however claimed he was mentally unwell on the time.
A person has been handed a two-year restraining order for stalking stalking Liverpool Girls’s participant Marie Hobinger
Mangal Dalal, 42, despatched repeated inappropriate and sexualised messages to Hobinger over a three-week interval earlier than later ready for her by the facet of the pitch after a match
Hobinger, who was not current at Westminster Magistrates’ Courtroom, revealed in her sufferer affect assertion how she had been left struggling to sleep and was alert to noises at her house attributable to considerations that he had found the place she lived.
‘I turned anxious within the automobile park at night time and would rush inside. I knew I used to be secure however I nonetheless felt nervousness being by myself. It’s not a pleasant feeling to be like that,’ Hobinger stated.
‘I felt uncomfortable and my ideas weren’t on my sport as a lot as they need to have been. When followers have been taking photos from the group it made me really feel insecure about who was taking them.
‘I like matchdays and this needs to be a time after I needs to be feeling assured and powerful. Somebody from Liverpool Soccer Membership additionally needed to escort me house. The membership has been wonderful and it has been arduous to cope with the state of affairs.
‘Though it has not affected my psychological well being, it has triggered me stress and anger. It makes me unhappy that ladies’s soccer is sexualised and disrespected. No girl, it doesn’t matter what her job is, ought to should put up with this kind of behaviour.’
Dalal’s lawyer, Daniel Lister, described how Dalal, who suffers from bipolar dysfunction, had been experiencing a manic episode with psychotic options through the interval through which he was sending Hobinger messages. Throughout this time Dalal had additionally been ‘strolling round barefoot, preaching sermons on the streets of London’.
Lister additionally described how Dalal had since despatched Liverpool FC an announcement through which he had apologised to Hobinger, and he had expressed regret for his actions. He has been attending weekly psychotherapy periods since Might 2025.
Addressing Dalal at Westminster Magistrates’ Courtroom, Decide Hina Rai stated: ‘I discover your conduct was very critical, however the messages have been despatched on social media.
Hobinger had alerted Liverpool to the messages and, attributable to considerations for her security, was assigned a security officer to accompany her to matches
‘Ms Hobinger additionally skilled a repeat flare up of a pores and skin situation because of the stress and nervousness brought on by your actions. When contemplating the culpability and hurt elements, I take into account it was not extended.
‘I’ve thought of fastidiously that you’re of earlier good character and don’t have any earlier convictions. I’ve additionally thought of the medical reviews regarding your actions.’
Dalal, who was carrying a white shirt and blue trousers, will likely be required to endure 25 days of rehabilitation as a part of his 18-month neighborhood order, and he additionally owes £764 in courtroom prices.
He is not going to be allowed to go to Liverpool’s coaching floor, Melwood, or to attend a Liverpool ladies’s house sport at both St Helens Stadium or Anfield. He was additionally advised he wouldn’t be permitted to contact or method Hobinger, both immediately or not directly.
Hobinger joined Liverpool in July 2023 and featured in each match throughout her first season on the membership. She is at the moment sidelined with a long-term knee damage sustained in October.
