A 'FLIRTY' FedEx delivery driver who winked and chatted up a legal secretary has been slapped with a restraining order - but he was cleared of stalking.

Andrew Malee, 38, regularly saw Emily Bradshaw as he made deliveries in Greater Manchester over a 14 month period.

4 Andrew Malee leaving Manchester Magistrates Court was cleared of stalking Credit: Cavendish Press

4 Emily Bradshaw claimed Malee who regularly made deliveries around the Altrincham area of Greater Manchester had made her feel uncomfortable Credit: Cavendish Press

He was arrested at the wheel of his van and charged with stalking, but was later cleared.

Despite the verdict he was banned from contacting Miss Bradshaw and going within 200 metres of her workplace under the terms of a one-year restraining order.

He could have faced up to five years jail if convicted.

Police were called in after she told her shocked family about Malee joking: ''See you tonight if I'm not in the back of a FedEx truck."

Miss Bradshaw claimed he made her feel uncomfortable during the "flirtatious" encounters, which began in August 2017.

She claimed he would deliberately park his vehicle outside her workplace and even turned up at Nicholls solicitors with the wrong parcel, then knelt down beside her at her desk whilst she "Googled" the correct address.

She told the court: "I go down to the Post Office to post letters but I have seen him at the same time.

"He was parked on the road where the doorway is to my office. At first it was every two or three days then every day.

"I was starting to worry I was starting to feel like we weren't meeting out of coincidence."

She added that on one occasion she had driven home via a different route after seeing him at traffic lights and that when she arrived back, she got inside and felt "stressed and collapsed."

Miss Bradshaw said: "I was seeing him all the time I felt like he was always there it just made me feel uncomfortable."

Police were called in after she told her shocked family about Malee joking: "See you tonight if I'm not in the back of a FedEx truck."

I'm not that type of person - I am probably one of the most friendly people you could ever come across Andrew Malee

At Manchester magistrates court Malee, of Golborne, near Wigan, was cleared of stalking following a trial in which he insisted he was merely "the friendliest person ever".

Miss Bradshaw's mum Corinee said: "At first we brushed it off but eventually it did start ringing alarm bells.

"She has health problems so at her last work she had mentioned that somebody had come in and been over friendly.

"She said that they had moved where she was sitting at work so I think it's a bit more than being over friendly."

Malee told the court: "I have never done Altrincham since. I thought I had done nothing wrong and I didn't realise the seriousness of the situation and it was going to come to this.

"I'm not that type of person - I am probably one of the most friendly people you could ever come across.



'RINGING ALARM BELLS'

"I could understand why you could look at it that way but the way I would look at it from my point of view there was no intention of stalking or threatening I'm not that type of person. Emily was the first person you would see when you walked into the solicitor's office.

"I would park up there but I wasn't parked there every day. Any conversation I have had with Emily she has been quite friendly. I was trying to be polite and there was no sign of her trying to get away or anything like that. When we have spoken she didn't give any sign she felt threatened."

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Defence lawyer Melanie Winstanley said: "He does not deny having any contact with this young woman - these were friendly conversations which was part of his role as a delivery driver."

JPs said: "We are satisfied Miss Bradshaw was alarmed and distressed but we do not find that the defendant knew or ought to have known."

4 Miss Bradshaw said the 'over-friendly' encounters took place over a 14 month period Credit: Cavendish Press

4 Malee had also turned up at Nicholls solicitors in Timperley village, where Miss Bradshaw worked with the wrong parcel Credit: Cavendish Press

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