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Poisonous pensioner jailed for village hateDawn Turnbull13/10/2001 The author of the infamous Manfield poison pen letters was behind bars last night for carrying out a 12-year hate campaign against his neighbours. Retired Open University lecturer James Forster, 68, was sentenced to four months, which was met with anger by some of his victims. One of them, Shirley Dodd, said: "He got four months but he will only serve two, and that's after he put the whole village through hell." Forster was also ordered to pay £3,000 prosecution costs, and his own legal bill is set to top £10,000. Forster was convicted in August of sending a barrage of almost 200 obscene and threatening letters and leaflets and terrorising an elderly woman. He was also found guilty of incitement to burglary. Sentencing was adjourned so medical and psychiatric reports could be prepared on Forster, a man of previous good character. Sitting at Teesside Crown Court, Judge David Bryant said Forster had "cruelly and cunningly" mounted the hate campaign that had "destroyed the fabric" of the quaint North Yorkshire village, near Darlington. He said: "A miasma of suspicion must have spread through the lanes of Manfield so that neighbour suspected neighbour and friend began to doubt friend." Forster showed no emotion as Judge Bryant said he was satisfied the letters had caused "very considerable distress" to a number of people that merited a prison sentence. Tim Roberts, for Forster, said the reports had found "no indication of past psychiatric problems, present or any future problems". The court also heard his wife Elizabeth had suffered a brain haemorrhage in 1996 and was dependent on her husband. The campaign began in 1987. Forster, a mine engineering expert, first preyed on widow Molly Christian, 88, his neighbour in Grunton Lane, sending her letters, including one threatening to put a bomb down her chimney. When local government officer Roy Kellett, his wife Elizabeth and student daughter Joanne, 21, in 1989 moved into Mrs Christian's house, a home Mr Forster had wanted to buy, they too became targets. Forster's poison pen letter war escalated with 68 of the village's 84 homes receiving letters. Joanne Kellett was left "scared and frightened" after she was deluged with lurid letters, cards and leaflets, some wrongly stating the wholly respectable accountant was a prostitute. Forster also sent letters inviting people to burgle the Kelletts' home while they were on holiday. His campaign came to an end when he sent a pornographic magazine to 13-year-old Catherine Wane, daughter of Parish Council clerk Rhona Wane. Ms Wane had already had a letter threatening to damage her car if she did not resign as Manfield Parish clerk as she did not live in the village. Police raided his two homes, Kirklea and Four Oaks, in the village. In Four Oaks they found a pair of rubber gloves, a stencil kit and crucially, the matching half of a piece of paper which was sent with the pornographic magazine. After the sentencing, Roy Kellett said: "I am happy with the sentence and now people in the village just want to get on with their lives." But Pat Sinclair, whose family received letters from Forster, said: "I am very angry at this sentence. In no way does it reflect the pain and distress he has caused." She added she thought all the victims should discuss joining together in a combined civil action against him. Sergeant Mick Griffiths and Detective Constable Graham Stockton, who worked for years to bring Forster to justice, were given commendations for their investigations by Judge Bryant yesterday. Trevor Carter, Forster's nephew, said an appeal had already been lodged against his conviction, but added he thought prison would "destroy" his elderly uncle. He said: "There has been a gross miscarriage of justice. Mr Forster is innocent. "The real Manfield letter writer is still out there." • Back
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