A ‘NUTTER’ who sent a former Leader of Weston Town Council a series of morbid letters along with a DVD of Inspector Morse has been found guilty of harassment.

Richard Glover, aged 71, started sending letters which described him and Pauline Priestman ‘being together in death’ to the mayor’s office just days after she was elected leader of the town council in May 2008.

Despite the fact they had never met, the first letter said: “The sun came out when I saw your face.”

He also described in the letters - six in total - how he wanted to ‘walk through the pearly gates hand-in-hand’ with her.

His behaviour escalated in September when he sent her a bouquet of flowers and a card - plus the Inspector Morse DVD.

Ms Priestman said: “I felt instantly frightened as he now knew where I lived.

“The episode was about a number of murders. I was frightened as it was now personal.”

Then, in March 2011, a man fitting Glover’s description went to Ms Priestman’s house claiming to be from a funeral director and asking to make arrangements for her service.

Ms Priestman said: “I now feel like a prisoner in my own home and I am very jumpy whenever the doorbell rings.

“It has left me feeling incredibly vulnerable. It has also put a huge strain on my family.”

About a week after the incident she heard someone hammering at her bedroom window at 4am.

She had no idea who it was and called the police, but officers were unable to find anyone in the area.

But the shock of the incident caused Ms Priestman to suffer memory loss the following day, and she was later diagnosed as suffering from amnesia.

She said: “I felt like I had a stroke due to the shock.”

Ms Priestman described how she became a public figure when she was elected, with her face being put in the newspaper, which may have been where Mr Glover first saw her.

She said: “I have gone from being a people person to having difficulty in the public eye.

“It restricted what I could do and what I now feel comfortable doing.”

She said she was also frustrated with the legal system, with the case being adjourned 16 times since March.

Her phone is now on a blue light alert, which means she is a priority alarm call if she rings the police, but Ms Priestman says she will not feel comfortable until Mr Glover is sentenced.

Glover was also found guilty of harassing Elizabeth Scott, who runs a newsagents in Weston, after he visited her several times in the shop before writing her a series of letters.

Glover, of Walliscote Road, said in a statement made to the police that both women were ‘imagining it’ and they enjoyed the attention.

However, he also confessed to being a ‘nutter’ and admitted sending the letters.

He did not appear at the hearing at North Somerset Courthouse in St Georges on Tuesday but was found guilty in his absence of one count of harassment without violence against each woman.

The case was adjourned for two weeks for a medical report to be compiled prior to sentencing.