AN OHIO STUDENT has won a restraining order against her parents, after convincing a court that her parents were stalking her.

Aubrey Ireland, 21, a student at the University of Cincinnati, told a court that she was regularly embarrassed by having her parents make a 600-mile journey from their native Kansas to visit their daughter unannounced and to check up on her.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that her parents David and Julie openly admitted to having installed key-logging software on their daughter’s mobile phone and laptop.

They claimed that their daughter had become promiscuous and was taking drugs, and was also suffering from what that newspaper described as “mental woes”.

The Enquirer reports that the parents’ behaviour became such an issue for their daughter that the university even hired security guards to keep them away from stage performances in which Aubrey – an enthusiastic stage actress – was appearing.

“It’s just been really embarrassing and upsetting to have my parents come to my university when I’m a grown adult and just basically slander my name and follow me around,” it quoted Aubrey as telling a court hearing.

Having broken all contact with them, Aubrey’s parents stopped paying their daughter’s tuition fees in the hope that it would result in their daughter having to return home – but her college gave her a full scholarship for her final year, in recognition of her regular appearances on the university’s Dean’s List.

A judge at the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court had urged the two sides to work out a settlement, but with no agreement forthcoming, the court issued a restraining order requiring David and Julie Ireland to remain 500 feet from their daughter at all times.

They are also required not to make any contact with her until September 2013.