The daughter of a disgraced former-football club owner has been found guilty of stalking her father’s female friend.
Alexandra Reynolds threatened Maxine Brewis with a ‘good hiding’ if she went to her father’s home again.
Alexandra is the daughter of ex-Darlington FC owner George Reynolds, who sent the club spiraling into administration before himself being convicted for tax evasion. He died last month aged 84.
She warned her millionaire father’s friend Ms Brewis to cut all contact with him over fears she had ‘ulterior motives’.
She ordered Ms Brewis to ‘stay out of the roads’ and grab herself a ‘steak bake’ in a series of malicious texts, with Alexandra writing: ‘I don’t like riff-raff.’
Alexandra, who did not attend the hearing, was on Tuesday found guilty of one count of stalking which occurred between November 2019 and June 2020.
Alexandra Reynolds (left) threatened Maxine Brewis (right) with a ‘good hiding’ if she went to her father’s home again
Alexandra is the daughter of ex-Darlington FC owner George Reynolds (pictured), who sent the club spiralling into administration before himself being convicted for tax evasion. He died last month aged 84
The court heard how Mr Reynolds rekindled a friendship with Ms Brewis who started working in his e-cigarette shop.
She regularly dropped him off at his home in Monument Court in County Durham, where Alexandra also lived.
In November 2019, Ms Brewis had dropped Mr Reynolds off at home when his daughter parked her car in front of the victim’s, blocking her in.
Ms Brewis feared she ‘would be attacked’ if she got out of the car, the court heard.
Describing another incident in the car park, Ms Brewis said Alexandra told her: ‘What are you doing here? I’ll punch your head in. This is my car park and I’m telling you never come back.’
‘She was totally intimidating.’
In January 2020, the victim received a text which said: ‘No outsiders coming in. If I see you, which I will, I will give you a good hiding in the car park.
‘Get back to Pennywell, stay out of the roads, grab yourself a steak bake. I don’t like riff-raff.’
In another text, Alexandra accused the victim of having ‘ulterior motives’ for helping her dad.
The victim sobbed in court as she said: ‘I was just trying to help.’
Alexandra blocked the victim in again on June 16 and later followed her as she drove home to Sunderland.
Ms Brewis described how Alexandra ‘made cars stop’ so she could get behind her.
She told the court: ‘I rang the police, I was so scared. She was following me home to find out where I live. I was shaking.’
The victim added: ‘I’m scared to leave the house, I’m paranoid in case she gets someone else.
‘I’m scared to be with my grandchildren in case she found me. She made my life a misery.’
A prior statement from Mr Reynolds – who died last month – said his daughter was ‘verbally abusive’ towards Ms Brewis, threatening to grab her by the hair.
He also said Ms Brewis had never taken any money from him or taken advantage of him and said his daughter acted ‘maliciously’ rather than out of concern.
Mr Reynolds was a safecracker-turned business mogul who ran a multi-million-pound kitchen workshop empire which he sold to retail giant Walmart for £41million.
He then added Darlington FC to his expansive portfolio, which also included a yacht, a jet and several properties around the world.
He at one point ranked at 112 on The Sunday Times Richlist.
But he was arrested on suspicion of money laundering in June 2004 after he was stopped by police who discovered £500,000 in cash in the boot of his car.
He was found guilty of tax evasion and was sentenced to three years in prison the following year.
Following his release, he opened an e-cigarette shop and ran a vending machine company. He died in April this year aged 84.
Mr Reynolds (pictured with the FA Cup at Feetham in 1999) was a safecracker-turned business mogul who ran a multi-million-pound kitchen workshops empire which he sold to retail giant Walmart for £41million. He then added Darlington FC to his expansive portfolio, which also included a yacht, a jet and several properties around the world
In a police statement, Alexandra admitted sending the texts and admitted being in the car park at the same time as the victim but denied following her, saying everything she did had her father’s interest at heart.
Finding Alexandra guilty of stalking, chair of the bench David Carr said the witness was ‘credible’ and was backed up by a statement from Mr Reynolds.
The court issued a warrant for the defendant’s arrest to allow her to be sentenced.