Stalker council leader in Cornwall granted court order to protect victim

A Cornwall council leader has been slapped with an anti-prosecution order for harassing a woman and her family. Graham Michael Smith, 68, appeared before Truro Crown Court earlier this month for stalking a woman, her husband and their children over a period of time.

The court heard how former BBC and ITV reporter Smith, who is chairman of St Mabyn Parish Council, has been ordered not to contact the victim or face being charged with an offense which could lead to a prison sentence.

Smith was sacked by Reach Plc, owners of CornwallLive and sister newspapers Cornishman, West Briton and Cornish Guardian, for setting up his own news site while still employed by the company. He often boasts that he has been sacked from every major news organization in Cornwall, including ITV and the BBC.

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The owner of pay-per-view website Cornwall Reports, who runs the site on his own account, appeared in court for sending numerous unsolicited and unwanted letters, a parcel, Christmas cards and a birthday card to his victim. A complaint for an anti-stalking protection order was filed by his victim and her family on the grounds that Smith poses a “risk associated with stalking another person and there are reasonable grounds to believe that the proposed order is necessary to protect other of such risk in accordance with section 1 of the Stalking Protection Act 2019”.

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Magistrates made the order against London-born Smith. It now means he is banned from having any contact with his victim, her husband or their children for the next five years. He is also prohibited from entering a specified area.

Smith, of Station Road, St Mabyn, near Wadebridge, was warned that “failing to comply with any term of this order is an offence, for which you could be sentenced to prison/custody”.