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Rory McGrath pleads guilty to stalking Rory McGrath gets suspended sentence for harassing former lover
(about 2 hours later)
The comedian Rory McGrath has admitted stalking a married woman for 14 months. The comedian Rory McGrath has been given a suspended sentence after he admitted harassing a married former lover for 14 months.
He had denied the single charge at an earlier hearing but changed his plea to guilty on the first day of his trial at Huntingdon magistrates court in Cambridgeshire on Thursday. The TV star was given a 10-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months after pleading guilty to harassment at Huntingdon magistrates court in Cambridgeshire on Thursday.
Prosecutors said McGrath, who has appeared in programmes such as They Think It’s All Over and the comedy documentary Three Men In a Boat, sent the woman electronic messages, approached her in the street and followed her. The They Think It’s All Over star, 60, whose wife Nicola was in court to support him, began harassing his victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, when she ended their affair.
The court heard that McGrath, 60, of Cambridge, also sent letters to the woman’s husband. The offending happened between June 2015 and August 2016. McGrath, who also appeared in the comedy documentary Three Men in a Boat, originally denied stalking but admitted harassment when the charge was changed.
His victim cannot be named for legal reasons. McGrath was also given a five-year restraining order banning him from contacting his victim, her three children, her husband or her current partner. He was also ordered to pay £200 costs.
In 2013, McGrath was cautioned by police over a drunken assault against a couple. He was said to have attacked the man and a woman, who were trying to help him while he was “heavily in drink”, police said at the time of the incident. The court heard McGrath, from Cambridge, became “unstable and tempestuous” after his lover dumped him and asked him to delete intimate photographs he had taken of them together.
The man suffered a bloody nose and a scratched face, and McGrath was subsequently arrested over the assaults, which took place at a house in Pool, near Redruth in Cornwall, where McGrath grew up. Anthony Abell, prosecuting, said McGrath first met the complainant in the 1990s and then more recently through work as she was a writer and broadcaster.
More details soon … “They got on well and began to exchange messages and their friendship developed into a physical relationship from November 2010 to May 2015,” said Abell.
“Both the defendant and the complainant were married to other people and their relationship had managed to be kept secret from their respective spouses. In the complainant’s case she was unhappily married.
“Although the affair had started off as something that they both cherished, by August 2014 the complainant had become very unhappy with the relationship. She began to find Mr McGrath difficult and unpleasant company.
“I don’t plan to go into details, but there was a time when she was seeking to disengage from the longstanding affair.
“She was very conscious of the fact that he did have several photographs of them together, including some intimate photographs as well that had been taken consensually, that he had stored electronically.
“She made it clear to him that she wanted it to end towards the end of May 2015. Following on from that she asked Mr McGrath to delete from his phone and any other devices anything that related to her to protect her and her family.
“The defendant seems to have found it very, very difficult to deal with.”
Abell said McGrath then became “unstable and tempestuous”.
His victim agreed to meet him at his home in July 2015 despite feeling uncomfortable about it. Abell said McGrath had put a mattress in his front room and asked the woman if she was frightened.
Abell told the court: “He asked after a few minutes of rather difficult conversation if, in the past months, she kept the relationship going in case she was worried about him having evidence. She felt he was trying to cross-examine her.”
Abell said: “She made it clear to him that their relationship was over. His reaction was to break down in tears and try to kiss her. She made it clear she did not want that. He then spoke in a theatrical voice as if there was an audience and said: ‘OK, ladies and gentlemen, we have closure.’”
The court heard that, between June 2015 and August 2016, McGrath sent the woman emails, approached her in the street and followed her. He also sent letters to the woman’s husband.
District judge Ken Sheraton said: “This was a persistent, consistent and controlling imposition of yourself on the victim and those close to her.”
He noted McGrath went to the workplace of the complainant’s husband and went close to her workplace, and he said there was “use or threats of use” of photos.
He said only a custodial sentence was appropriate, but he felt able to suspend this after hearing mitigation including McGrath’s guilty plea.
In a statement outside court, McGrath thanked his family for standing by him.
Reading on his behalf, his lawyer Nick Barnes said: “This has been a dark time and thankfully it’s now over.
“I wish to thank the judge, and apologise to my wife and family and thank them for their incredible support during this time. I now want to move on with my life, thank you.”
As reporters asked him if he had any regrets, McGrath walked away with his arm around his wife’s shoulders.