Well this is really fucking creepy.
A Countdown champion tracked down a teenage girl and attacked her with a bottle because she posted a bad review of his book online, The Independent reports.
Richard Brittain, 28, pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Crown Court. He used Facebook to stalk 18-year-old Paige Rolland, tracking her down to the Asda store in Glenrothes, Fife, where she worked.
He entered the store as she started her shift, and smashed a wine bottle over Miss Rolland’s head, knocking her unconscious.
Procurator fiscal depute Harry Findlay told Glasgow Sheriff Crown Court:
He went to the alcohol aisle and picked up a bottle of wine, he then went to the aisle where the complainer was working.
He approached her from behind, she was kneeling down collecting cereal from the bottom shelf of the aisle.
While doing so, the accused approached without warning… and he struck the complainer on the back of the head with the bottle.
The incident happened back in 2014, after Brittain uploaded a section of his book ‘The World Rose’ to a site called Wattpad – a platform for people to have their work read and critiqued.
He didn’t take Miss Rolland’s negative feedback very well. She told the Daily Record:
The attack has left me nervous and fearful. I find it difficult to meet new people and am nervous in big crowds. I find it weird and creepy he tracked me down and travelled to Scotland to assault me.
Brittain, from Bedford, won Countdown back in 2006, and this isn’t the only time he’s done something creepy like this.
He also pleaded guilty to stalking Ella Durant, a girl he went to university with. Using Instgram and Twitter, Brittain tracked her down to Scotland and tried to speak to her twice, after which Miss Durant told the police.
Apparently she’d previously contacted officers about his ‘sufficiently concerning’ behaviour while they were at uni.
Brittain even detailed his behaviour towards her in a story called ‘The Benevolent Stalker‘, which he published on his blog.
He wrote:
I thought long and hard about what I was doing. I think that is when I first accepted that I had become a stalker.
Before, I had been an admirer. But what does stalking really mean? It seems to mean that you truly love someone who does not love you back.
After pleading guilty to both cases, Court Sheriff Martin Jones QC deferred Brittain’s sentence until a later date and a motion for bail has been refused, The Independent reported.
