Fern Britton stalker handed 10-year restraining order after pleading guilty -Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro

Fern Britton previously described the ordeal as ‘disturbing and scary’ (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

A man has pleaded guilty to stalking former This Morning presenter Fern Britton, after causing her ‘distress and anxiety’.

James Haviland of Great Oaks Chase, Chineham, Hampshire has been given a 10-year restraining order and told to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

He pleaded guilty to stalking the Celebrity Big Brother star without causing fear, alarm or distress, between November 20, 2021 and September 16, 2023, in the Wadebridge area.

It had previously been reported that he had sent her cards and flowers, and then stayed in her village near Cornwall four times, and rented out a holiday home she owned in September last year.

He stayed in the TV star’s property for a week in September 2023, and made a further booking to stay there for another week in November of that year. Haviland also stayed in the same village on three occasions between February and November 2022.

He also sent ‘unwanted’ flowers to Fern, 66, on three occasions, twice with a card, between November 2021 and July 2023 – and he also made an unfinished further order for flowers in June 2022.

Sentencing Haviland at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court, District Judge Stephen Apted said he had caused the former This Morning presenter ‘distress and anxiety’ by his ‘prolonged campaign’ of stalking.

James Haviland, 63, has been given a 10-year restraining order and told to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work (Picture: Solent News & Photo Agency)

Haviland’s ‘prolonged campaign’ was said to have caused Fern ‘distress and anxiety’ (Picture: James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock)

As well as the restraining order, the defendant was handed a 12-month community order which requires him to complete 12 rehabilitation sessions and 150 hours of unpaid work – and he was told to pay a £114 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.

It had previously been said Fern was left terrified after a horrific incident where he drove 200 miles to stay in her holiday home, describing the ordeal as ‘disturbing and scary’.

Fern had stayed in the village since childhood and even become a local reporter there in the 1980s.

It became her safe haven after she left her Buckinghamshire home which the star had shared with her then TV-chef husband Phil Vickery.

Fern moved to Cornwall after splitting from Phil Vickery in 2020 (Picture: PA)

After 20 years together, the pair split in 2020 and around the same time she lost both her parents so moved out to the town to heal.

Following the move, she said, according to The Mirror: ‘I’m not afraid of change… The last three years have been very hard.

‘I lost my parents, I lost my marriage. I lost my other home in Buckinghamshire, too, because Phil lives there now and I’m in Cornwall.

‘But the magic I’ve found here is incredible. I’ve made some wonderful girlfriends, that’s been a lovely surprise.’

Fern has often shared glimpses of her life in Cornwall on social media, and fronted a two-part Channel 5 series on the location.

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