Stepney considers action over car chases

While Ferrari's own legal investigation into Stepney's alleged espionage and sabotage activities continues, the man himself is pondering taking action after saying he had been followed by unidentified individuals.

The incident first came to a light in an interview Stepney did with The Sunday Times earlier this month.

"There have been high-speed car chases," he said. "We've been followed by more than one car, with Italian plates, and when we cornered one of them last Thursday evening the men in it refused to speak.

"I don't believe they were journalists. [Girlfriend] Ash has been stalked at the house. There was tracking gear on my car. Someone was going to get hurt. I had no option but to get out of Italy."

Stepney's lawyer Sonia Bartolini said they were investigating the matter.

"At the right time we'll draw our conclusions," she told La Repubblica newspaper. "At the moment we're trying to trace the car plates to the subjects that followed Stepney, and then we'll file a complaint."

Meanwhile, Gazzetta dello Sport quoted her as saying: "The evidence in our possession shows there will be other people involved. Some heavy revelations."

The Modena police looking into the matter are expected to start opening some of the confiscated files they took from Stepney's house during their investigation.

Salvatore Calabrese, chief of the Postal Police in Modena, told Gazzetta dello Sport: "We have already seen some documents, and at the moment there's nothing relevant.

"We'll soon start working on the three computers, the palmtops, the mobile phones, the video cameras, the CDs and the hard disks.

"We are also considering the bank transactions, both the ones Stepney's done and the ones that could be linked to him. At the moment the only person we are concentrating on is him, and no one else."