London prosecutor wins justice for woman harassed by multi-millionaire businessman

A multi-millionaire has been convicted of harassing his ex-lover in a case which saw a senior crown prosecutor opposed by an eminent Queen's Counsel.

Businessman Massimo Prelz-Oltramonti was found guilty following a two-hour cross-examination by CPS London's Saira Islam.

For the two-day trial Saira, Hammersmith and Fulham Team, West Central London Prosecution Service, faced defence counsel Kim Hollis QC, from 25 Bedford Row Chambers.

During the course of the case West London Magistrates' Court was told that Prelz-Oltramonti, who heads several telecommunications companies, sent emails, text messages and insulting voice mails.

Prelz-Oltramonti, 53, sent her new partner an explicit letter aimed at upsetting Ms Curtis and destroying her relationship, the court heard.

She told the court that she suffered a nervous breakdown and moved to her parents' home. This sparked a deluge of emails and other messages over the next 36 days. On the first day of the trial Ms Curtis gave evidence for five hours.

In evidence, Prelz-Oltramonti claimed he had sent the letter to Ms Curtis' partner to "flush him out".

Cross-examining, Saira questioned him about the volume of text messages he sent to Ms Curtis - in one seven-hour period she received 17, followed by voicemails accusing her of having an affair with another man.

Finding him guilty, District Judge Emma Arbuthnot subjected him to a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting Ms Curtis for a year.

Afterwards Saira, who authorised the charge against Prelz-Oltramonti as duty prosecutor at Chelsea, was congratulated by West Sector Director Nazir Afzal.

He said: "This demonstrates that the art of cross-examination is alive and well and the successful outcome recognises the work that Saira put into preparing this case."