BBC weather girl: I felt sick on air feeling stalker was watching me
A BBC weather presenter has told how she was forced off the air when an obsessed fan bombarded her with sexual messages.
Avionics engineer Timothy O’Brien became infatuated with BBC South’s Alexis green, sending her more than a hundred messages to tell her she had ‘nice legs’ and he liked it when she wore ‘a sexy little dress’, a court heard.
The former company director also bombarded Ms green with videos and pictures of himself and detailed his sexual fantasies.
Ms green told Southampton Magistrates’ Court his unwanted advances left her feeling ‘physically sick’, knowing that the 55year- old father of four could be watching her on TV.
The emotional presenter said the ‘repeated’ harassment had made her feel less confident in ‘ every aspect’ of her life and resulted in her taking time off.
O’Brien sent Ms green 115 messages, 33 videos and 13 photos. On Wednesday, he was jailed for 17 weeks, handed a restraining order and told not to attend her place of work at BBC South. Bethany Adams, prosecuting, said: ‘The victim doesn’t know the defendant. Between 18 December last year and 24 January this year, the defendant repeatedly contacted Ms green via Facebook Messenger. The content of those messages and videos are rather unpleasant.’
In the videos, the court heard O’Brien telling Ms green he wanted to ‘feel her’ and boasting about the size of his penis.
O’Brien also sent messages to Ms green, saying he wanted to have sex with her, and she had ‘nice legs, so should be on the news more often’. Ms Adams told the court O’Brien messaged saying his ‘favourite’ was when she wore a ‘sexy little dress’.
Reading her victim statement to the court from behind a screen, Ms green, who lives with her partner and child, said the ordeal had even led her to consider quitting.
She explained: ‘I feel I’m constantly looking over my shoulder. I have had to have time off work.’
Speaking about the reoffending chances of O’Brien, who wept while she spoke of the impact it had on her, she said: ‘I’m on the TV – he will always be able to see me. When will his obsession end?’
After initially being arrested on suspicion of stalking in January, O’Brien admitted an alternate charge of harassment without vio
‘Looking over my shoulder’
lence. In mitigation, Mark Hensleigh told the court O’Brien previously had a ‘ successful career’ before separating from his wife. Mr Hensleigh said: ‘No one really knows what has gone wrong but he gets fixated with people.’
He told the court the videos had happened when O’Brien, who has previous convictions for stalking and breaches of the resultant restraining order, was ‘in drink’.