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March 23, 2007updated 17 May 2007 11:30am

Man intimidated reporter for 20 years, court hears

By Press Gazette

A man has been convicted of harassment after “intimidating” a reporter who wrote a story about him.

Alan Higgs, from Uttoxeter, was given a five-year restraining order at Cannock Magistrates’ Court and told he must complete 100 hours of community service for his harassment of former Uttoxeter Advertiser reporter Amanda Mould between March and September last year.

Higgs, 55, who has known Mould, 40, since she was a teenager, first started to intimidate her during the 1990s, after she wrote a news story about him.

Magistrates heard how Higgs told the mother of two he was going to “hunt her down and drive her out of town”.

John Peel, prosecuting, told the court that Mould had been with her 11 and 13-year-old daughters in March last year in a Uttoxeter car park when Higgs shouted abuse at her.

Peel told the court how on one occasion Higgs had Mould trapped against the side of her car and was “about a foot away from her but he was still shouting abuse at her from this distance”.

In a statement read out in court, Mould, who is now a charity’s area manager, said: “I have been the victim of this man’s behaviour for more than 20 years. During this time I have been stalked, threatened, harassed and humiliated.”

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Speaking after the hearing, Higgs told the Burton Mail he would soon be leaving Uttoxeter claiming he had become the new manager of rock band Oasis and would soon be appearing in an episode of the South Bank Show dedicated to his life.

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