Former national TV news presenter sobbed as she testified in court about how her “obsessed” neighbor “terrorized” her to the point where she had to leave her own house.
While a result of Jonathan Barrett’s attentions, Isla Traquair experienced nightmares and panic attacks.
Jonathan Barrett allegedly showed up at her conservatory window at 7 am as she was getting ready, and on another occasion, he “chainsawed” a bush in her yard.
The court heard that shortly after moving in, ‘strange’ Barrett stunned the ex-ITV News and Channel 5 News presenter by climbing over a wall into her garden and entering her house to offer her a sandwich.
This caused the presenter to become afraid of Barrett.
He allegedly would also stand outside her dreamy 1700s country cottage on the outskirts of the Cotswolds and stare directly into the bedroom window.
The 42-year-old journalist was so terrified that she spent thousands of pounds installing fences and security cameras before leaving her house.
She hasn’t visited her house in nearly a year.
The American Oprah Winfrey Network has employed Ms. Traquair, a native of Aberdeen, and she also published a true crime podcast titled “The Storyteller: Violent Delights.”
Selina Scott filed an age discrimination lawsuit after she was passed over for Natasha Kaplinsky’s maternity leave and Ms. Traquair, a younger, more “glamorous” candidate, was hired. Scott reportedly won £250,000 as a result.
In 2008, she was hired as Channel 5’s 7 p.m. news anchor, which sparked an age discrimination lawsuit.
Magistrates heard that between March and September 2021, 53-year-old Barrett “terrorized” her, starting as soon as she moved into the home close to the small Wiltshire town of Corsham, where high-profile BBC show Poldark scenes were filmed.
She is a journalist, a fairly well-known journalist, and it appears that Mr. Barrett became interested in her and her life when she moved in, according to the prosecutor, Alicia Doble, who appeared before Salisbury Magistrates Court in Wiltshire.
‘ He says that he checked her out when she first moved in and that he seemed to know things about her that she hadn’t let him know.
He developed an obsession with her during the ensuing months. He would linger outside her house, peer into her conservatory from a wall, and through windows.
According to Ms. Traquair, “It has touched every aspect of my life.” I’ve had to stay with friends and sleep on their couches since I can’t live in my house.
There were times when I relocated and hoped the cops would speak with him again.
“I’ve experienced nightmares, which have harmed my relationships… I hardly ever left the house when I was there out of fear of running into him.
I would wake up in the middle of the night with panic attacks.
I would be alarmed even if I saw a white van since that is what he drove.
“His behavior was frightening to me, and I wanted to avoid him at all means.”
I honestly simply tried to bury all of this when I left my house.
My inability to live in my own house breaks my heart.
Ms. Traquair purchased the home in January 2021 with the intention of returning to Britain to be near her ill mother.
She then moved in in March of that same year.
When Barrett leapt the wall dividing their back gardens in that month, Ms. Traquair was in the midst of home renovations.
I wasn’t necessarily locking the doors because I was performing repairs, the woman admitted.
He entered my home and questioned “Have you eaten anything today? I’ll make you a sandwich; I have some salmon “‘
Ms. Traquair claimed that when she first moved in, her bathroom wasn’t working, so she washed in the sink while Barrett watched her from his own yard.
“John was standing exactly outside my conservatory facing me as I was washing my face and getting about to remove my clothing to wash my underarms.
I was genuinely alarmed when I saw him. This was quite unsettling, I immediately ducked down. .
He shouldn’t be standing there at 7 in the morning peering into my property, whether or not I was dressed.
There were a lot of incidents both before and after. After the disturbing events, I began writing a diary.
The court heard that in April, Ms. Traquair recorded Barrett looking out of her window into her living room as she sat there for 40 minutes.
“This wasn’t the first time it happened,” she remarked. I eventually covered the entire window with a blind.
“I would just go to another section of the home at that point,” she said.
In June, Ms. Traquair installed bamboo screening to keep Barrett’s garden out of her conservatory.
However, when she got home later that day, she discovered a bush on her property had been “chainsawed” and had been left “all jagged.”
Barrett was spoken to by the police later that month, but Ms. Traquair testified in court that this did not stop him from peering into her home.
Police advised her to install a fence and security cameras after this, but Barrett kept “interrupting” and “intimidating” the workers installing them by looking at them.
Later that month, the journalist said she recorded him peeking out of her bedroom window while he was standing at his van.
‘This happened an incalculable number of times – pretty much every day,’ Ms. Traquair testified to the court.
“I can make out that he is gazing down in the direction of my bedroom.
He might have been able to see someone on my bed if I had opened my blinds, which I definitely didn’t.
Ms. Traquair claimed that while returning home in July, she even witnessed Barrett tailgating her in his van.
She drove to a neighboring farm shop but claimed Barrett followed her, trying to avoid arriving at the same time so she would not have to talk to him.
She claimed to have waited in the parking lot for some time while Barrett remained in his vehicle.
She claimed that he “shot off” when she restarted her car.
Barrett was detained by the police, released, and caught on security camera footage three days later taking pictures and wandering around the front of her house in his dressing gown.
In September, something finally snapped.
As for whether a ladder was involved, Ms. Traquair stated: “It was the evening, it was dark, and I became aware of banging noises above on the outer wall.
It was a very unpleasant experience, The night before, stones had also been thrown at my bedroom window.
I had been terrorized by this man… I was terrified.
After calling my buddy, whose husband then came to pick me up, I departed immediately.
The last time I stayed at my place was then.
In the village of Kingsdown, Barrett, who owns a one-bedroom, £380,000 semi-detached house close to Ms Traquair’s, denies one charge of stalking.
The trial goes on.