It looks we have found the leading contender for the world’s saddest person, if there is such a thing: Noel Edmunds’ stalker. Apparently, the old boy has been stalked by an unnamed woman has been sending Noel emails and tweets, threatening to reveal an affair he says he never had. “It kicked off again a few weeks ago, said Noel. “‘She’ sends me emails of an intimate nature. Then it got quite serious as she accused me of having an affair and she wanted to go to the media.”
The veteran of countless ‘entertainment’ shows over the last 75 years (well, it feels like 75 years) felt the need to appear on ITV’s This Morning show which, I read, is hosted by Ruth Langford and Ben Shepherd. I am not familiar with either of these names, but then I haven’t watched Breakfast TV since Frank Bough was on (ask your parents, kids), whereupon he explained that it was causing his wife pain and he had been told by his ‘professional advisors’ to report his stalker to the police. Now, if it requires the assistance of a professional advisor to suggest that a stalker should be reported to the police, then is there anyone out there who needs a professional advisor? I can do that.
Edmunds thinks the police have better things to do than investigate the activities of a stalker then perhaps he should find better things to do than whine in public about it. There are always more serious criminals than sad people who like to stalk elderly TV personalities but a crime is a crime and if Edmunds believes a crime is being committed, he surely had a public duty to report it? What if the stalker moves on to someone who does not live a luxurious millionaire lifestyle and doesn’t have access to a national TV station to express his concerns? Time to nip it in the bud now, Noel?
There are other things Edmunds can do. How about blocking people on twitter? Surely his professional advisors can show him to do that, or direct the emails to his spam and trash folders? If a technophobe muppet like me can carry out these basic functions, surely Edmunds could do it, perhaps with some grown up assistance?
The article ends with a tweet Edmunds sent to fellow telly presenter Alex Jones who herself has been pestered by a stalker:”@MissAlexjones total support and sympathy Alex. I’ve got one now but am reluctant to bother the police #priceoffame”. The bearded one loses a few Brownie points on this one with me thanks to his parting “price of fame” hashtag. It isn’t, or maybe shouldn’t be, the price of fame because bad things, like stalking happen to everyone, not least, in fact mainly, to women who might not necessarily be in Edmunds’ privileged position of being able deal with them.
I’ll have to take his word for it that this is not a desperate bid for publicity in the twilight days of his career, because the practise of stalking has no place in our society. I’d be very glad if he visited Inspector Knacker and handed over his evidence forthwith, just to remove any nagging doubts the cynics might have.
