A man will be sentenced for sending a barrage of threatening greetings cards to a BBC regional news presenter.
Gordon Hawthorn, 68, previously pleaded guilty of one charge of stalking involving serious alarm or distress to Alex Lovell, who works for BBC Points West.
The defendant, of Street, Somerset, admitted sending the cards to Ms Lovell between January 1 2016 and March 16 last year.
Ms Lovell began receiving cards, which were signed ‘Gordon’ with five crosses, at the BBC’s regional centre on Whiteladies Road, Bristol, in 2012.
One card, received on January 12, read: “Make no mistake Alex that I am going to have sex with you this year, even if it means I have to rape you.”
After reporting the matter to police, Ms Lovell received further cards threatening to rape her – including dates when Hawthorn claimed he would attack her.
On November 29 in 2017, Hawthorn wrote that he had previously raped other women and kept their underwear as a trophy.
Police issued a public appeal about the cards in March 2018 and a woman came forward to say she had received one that was similar.
In a victim personal statement, Ms Lovell said she felt “like I had been punched in the stomach” when she received the first rape threat.
She experienced panic attacks due to the stress caused by Hawthorn’s cards and used an app called HollieGuard, developed by the Hollie Gazzard Trust, for safety.
Miss Gazzard, 20, was murdered by her ex-partner in the hairdressers where she worked in Gloucester in 2014.
Officers praised her bravery and said it had taken courage to report the cards.
Ms Lovell hosted Brainteaser on Channel Five in 2002 after working on a live shopping channel.
She has been presenting on BBC Points West since 2005.
