With lots of love from your stalker and rapist
Vile message sent to BBC host in 2-year ordeal
A STALKER has admitted bombarding a newsreader with threatening greeting cards for two years. Gordon Hawthorn, 68, pleaded guilty to one charge of stalking involving serious alarm or distress to Alex Lovell, who works for Bristolbased BBC Points West.
Hawthorn yesterday admitted sending the offensive cards to Miss Lovell between January 1, 2016, and March 16 this year.
He sent them to married Miss Lovell at the BBC’s regional centre on Whiteladies Road in Bristol. One chilling message read: ‘Make no mistake, Alex ... I am going to have sex with you this year, even if it means I have to rape you.’ Another read: ‘I hope to be with you very soon. Lots of love and kisses from your stalker and your rapist!’
Chairman of the bench Dr Nancy North told Hawthorn at Bristol Magistrates’ Court: ‘The offence we have before us today is so serious that you need a greater punishment than we can give you.’
Prosecuting, May Li told the court: ‘Since 2012, Miss Lovell has been receiving greetings cards addressed to her at the BBC from an individual who signed the cards “Gordon”.
‘By January 12, 2016, the language and tone of the cards changed. They became more sexual and threatening. Miss Lovell and the BBC security team agreed that the situation should be reported to the police.’
Miss Li said Hawthorn faced a prison sentence of between one and four years.
In a victim impact statement, Miss Lovell said the cards described how the writer knew what her hair smelled like. ‘In January 2016, the tone of what was in the cards changed dramatically,’ she said. ‘I opened one, expecting the usual filth inside, only to read that he had made it a New Year’s resolution to have sex with me. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach.’
She said the cards left her always
‘Stole two years of my freedom’
checking over her shoulder, adding: ‘I felt nowhere was safe.’
Earlier this year, Avon and Somerset Police released images of cards sent to Miss Lovell and revealed she had been receiving them for six years.
The force said she contacted officers in 2016 when the cards became more graphic and included rape threats.
The messages were usually signed ‘Gordon’ with five crosses – one large X and four small ones around it. They were always written in capitals and often had an animal on the front.
Hawthorn, of Street, Somerset, was identified in March when another woman told police she had received a Valentine’s card at work with the same crosses.
‘She recalled a man called Gordon used to go to a pub she worked at,’ Miss Li said. ‘And when she left the pub she had told Gordon where she was starting at her current job.’ A DNA sample linked Hawthorn to the cards. In a statement, Miss Lovell said: ‘He stole two years of my freedom with his persistent threats of rape. He repeatedly described how he would attack me and that he had raped before.
‘In a situation like this, you don’t know who your aggressor is – you only know who they claim to be. I urge anybody who is receiving persistent unwanted attention, threats or intimidation to tell police.’
Miss Lovell hosted Brainteaser on Channel Five in 2002 and has been presenting on BBC Points West since 2005.
Robyn Rowland, representing Hawthorn, agreed that his client should be sentenced at a crown court. He will appear at Bristol Crown Court on January 3.