James Forster (1933–2017) was an English criminal who, between 1987 and 1999, orchestrated a hate campaign during which he sent 200 poison pen letters to residents of Manfield, district of

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

. A former

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

lecturer, he was found guilty of three counts of threatening to destroy property, three of sending indecent mail, and one of incitement to commit burglary. He died in 2017.

Early life

Forster was born in 1933 and was employed by the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

for 11 years before attending Kings College at the

University of Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick un ...

. There he studied for a BSc in applied sciences before taking an MSc and PhD. He then lectured at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

for five years before joining the

. He rose through the ranks from staff tutor to senior lecturer between 1971 and 1998, including a spell as acting deputy regional director in 1995.

Crimes

Between 1987 and 1999, residents of Manfield, district of

, began receiving poison pen letters. The poison pen letter writer stalked a woman, Joanne Kellett, and sent a letter to her, accusing her of being a prostitute, and threatened to put a bomb down the chimney at the home of Molly Christian, one of his first victims, to whom he sent three anonymous letters. Forster also sent pornography to a 13-year-old girl. Shirley Dodd, a mother of two, had her son Jeremy, 11, accused of sending the letters, but he was soon ruled out when Forster was caught. Prosecutor Michael O'Neill said it was telling that from the time Dr Forster was first arrested to the time of him coming to court, only one letter had been sent to anyone in Manfield. It was an envelope full of dog excrement. Forster had tried to buy Molly Christian's home when she put it up for sale in 1989, but later dropped out. He turned his attention to the people who bought the house, Roy and Val Kellett and their daughter Joanne, then aged 19. Forster sent an anonymous letter to a man in Darlington inviting him to burgle the Kelletts' home when they were away on holiday.

Arrest and trial

Forster was arrested in 2001 and after an eight-day trial at

Teesside Crown Court The Teesside Combined Court Centre is a Crown Court venue, which deals with criminal cases, as well as a County Court venue, which deals with civil cases, in Corporation Road, Middlesbrough, England. History Until the early 1970s, apart from a ...

, a jury took four-and-a-quarter hours to find him guilty of three counts of threatening to destroy property, three of sending indecent mail, and one of incitement to commit burglary. However, he was cleared of three charges of damaging neighbours' property. He was also accused of throwing a paint bomb at a house and threatening to throw a paint bomb at a car. Forster was sentenced to four months imprisonment, and made to pay costs.

Later life and death

Forster returned to Manfield upon his release. He lived quietly with his wife until his death in 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, James 1933 births 2017 deaths 21st-century English criminals Alumni of Newcastle University Academics of the University of Nottingham Academics of the Open University