{"id":93383,"date":"2025-02-18T17:33:08","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T17:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=93383"},"modified":"2025-02-19T13:47:31","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T13:47:31","slug":"stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/","title":{"rendered":"Stalker, 70, plagued woman, 42, with ‘deluded’ letters because he was \u2018lonely\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Howard Bird contacted Claire Stuart claiming to \u2018be a good friend\u2019 – before threatening her on Facebook<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A STALKER who wrote “deluded” letters to a 42-year old woman for seven months told her he wanted them to go on holiday together because he was \u201cin need of a friend\u201d, a court heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howard Bird, 70, of Heol Dewi, Hengoed, Caerphilly, wrote four letters to Claire Stuart’s home and workplace, despite an existing restraining order prohibiting him from doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gareth Williams, defending, told Cardiff Crown Court that Bird later made an insulting post about Ms Stuart on Facebook and threatened to damage her car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hannah Friedman, prosecuting, said the pensioner has seven prior convictions stemming from 12 offences all relating to the same 42-year-old victim, and this was a stalking offence committed in breach of a court order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Stuart recognised Bird\u2019s handwriting when she received a birthday card on June 12, 2024, Miss Friedman told the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bird then sent two letters to her place of work in September, expressing his wish for them to go on holiday to Benidorm from Cardiff airport any time between October and early December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bird told his victim: \u201cI am still trying to be a good friend to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Stuart also received a gift of marshmallows and a Christmas card on December 7, 2024, which said that \u201cthere was still time\u201d for them to travel together, Miss Friedman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Williams, defending, did not deny that his client\u2019s contact with Ms Stuart was deliberate and persistent and said the letters written to Ms Stuart were \u2018deluded\u2019 in nature. But Mr Williams asked the judge to consider the defendant\u2019s loneliness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe has a very isolated lifestyle due to health, retirement, lack of friends and lack of contact with his family,\u201d said Mr Williams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Williams also explained that Bird was \u201cin need of a friend\u201d and \u201cmade an error in sending letters to be friends with someone who does not want to be\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bird was arrested on December 8, 2024, after Ms Stuart reported him to police for the insulting Facebook post. He was remanded in custody on December 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her victim impact statement, read out to the court by Miss Friedman, Ms Stuart said: \u201cI am scared. I do not know what he will do next. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like going out on my own. I would say I have become a hermit. The whole incident has made me feel like I don\u2019t want to make friends anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel vulnerable. I feel I am looking over my shoulder because of what Bird has done to me. I\u2019m just petrified.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bird previously pleaded guilty to the charges of stalking and five breaches of the restraining order at Newport Magistrates Court in December 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recorder Christian Jowett reduced Bird\u2019s sentence from 12 to eight months imprisonment for one count of stalking and from six to four months imprisonment for five breaches of the restraining order, to be served concurrently. He will pay a \u00a3187 surcharge in the three months following his release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judge said that Bird had a \u201cpoor history in compliance with the restraining order\u201d and felt that \u201cno other sentence can be justified\u201d given the offences’ starting point, range and aggravating circumstances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Howard Bird, 70, contacted Claire Stuart, 42, wanting to \u2018be a good friend\u2019 – before threatening her on Facebook<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":93473,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[558,6638,16,9016],"coauthors":[8786],"class_list":["post-93383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-cardiff-crown-court","tag-court-reporting","tag-crime","tag-stalking"],"yoast_head":"\nStalker, 70, plagued woman, 42, with 'deluded' letters because he was \u2018lonely\u2019 - The Cardiffian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stalker, 70, plagued woman, 42, with 'deluded' letters because he was \u2018lonely\u2019 - The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Howard Bird, 70, contacted Claire Stuart, 42, wanting to \u2018be a good friend\u2019 - before threatening her on Facebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=61566577206249\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-18T17:33:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-19T13:47:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/02\/Howard-Bird-GIF.gif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"602\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"803\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Louise Sadler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@LSadlerJourno\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Louise Sadler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/\",\"name\":\"Stalker, 70, plagued woman, 42, with 'deluded' letters because he was \u2018lonely\u2019 - The Cardiffian\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/02\/Howard-Bird-GIF.gif\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-18T17:33:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-19T13:47:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/9d558d33c4a138a4b06ae9d57166bbdb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/02\/Howard-Bird-GIF.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/02\/Howard-Bird-GIF.gif\",\"width\":602,\"height\":803,\"caption\":\"Howard Bird, 70, was sentenced for stalking and breaching a restraining order at Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday Credit: Gwent Police\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Stalker, 70, plagued woman, 42, with ‘deluded’ letters because he was \u2018lonely\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/\",\"name\":\"The Cardiffian\",\"description\":\"Just another JOMEC Sites Network site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/9d558d33c4a138a4b06ae9d57166bbdb\",\"name\":\"Louise Sadler\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/8660ce28e5afb743ec3482e12afdd3ab\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/10\/avatar_user_1217_1727968711-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/10\/avatar_user_1217_1727968711-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Louise Sadler\"},\"description\":\"Trainee News Journalist studying at Cardiff University.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=61566577206249\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/lsadlerjourno\/\",\"www.linkedin.com\/in\/louise-sadler-modernlangandwriting\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/LSadlerJourno\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/author\/sadlerla\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Stalker, 70, plagued woman, 42, with 'deluded' letters because he was \u2018lonely\u2019 - The Cardiffian","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Stalker, 70, plagued woman, 42, with 'deluded' letters because he was \u2018lonely\u2019 - The Cardiffian","og_description":"Howard Bird, 70, contacted Claire Stuart, 42, wanting to \u2018be a good friend\u2019 - before threatening her on Facebook","og_url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/","og_site_name":"The Cardiffian","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=61566577206249","article_published_time":"2025-02-18T17:33:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-19T13:47:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":602,"height":803,"url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/02\/Howard-Bird-GIF.gif","type":"image\/gif"}],"author":"Louise Sadler","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@LSadlerJourno","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Louise Sadler","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/","name":"Stalker, 70, plagued woman, 42, with 'deluded' letters because he was \u2018lonely\u2019 - The Cardiffian","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/02\/Howard-Bird-GIF.gif","datePublished":"2025-02-18T17:33:08+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-19T13:47:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/9d558d33c4a138a4b06ae9d57166bbdb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/02\/Howard-Bird-GIF.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/02\/Howard-Bird-GIF.gif","width":602,"height":803,"caption":"Howard Bird, 70, was sentenced for stalking and breaching a restraining order at Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday Credit: Gwent Police"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/02\/18\/stalker-70-plagued-woman-42-with-deluded-letters-because-he-was-lonely\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stalker, 70, plagued woman, 42, with ‘deluded’ letters because he was \u2018lonely\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/","name":"The Cardiffian","description":"Just another JOMEC Sites Network site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/9d558d33c4a138a4b06ae9d57166bbdb","name":"Louise Sadler","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/8660ce28e5afb743ec3482e12afdd3ab","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/10\/avatar_user_1217_1727968711-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/10\/avatar_user_1217_1727968711-96x96.jpg","caption":"Louise Sadler"},"description":"Trainee News Journalist studying at Cardiff University.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=61566577206249","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/lsadlerjourno\/","www.linkedin.com\/in\/louise-sadler-modernlangandwriting","https:\/\/x.com\/LSadlerJourno"],"url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/author\/sadlerla\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93383"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93580,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93383\/revisions\/93580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93383"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=93383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}