Broadcaster Katie Breathwick sobbed as she told jurors she was left living in fear by a stalker who sent her a DIY will-writing kit, perfume and a pair of binoculars.
Mrs Breathwick, 53, told how the dozens of letters and parcels sent by ‘unhinged’ Peter Windsor, 61, left her feeling ‘deeply, deeply distressed’ and concerned for her own safety.
She fought back tears as she told how she was left ‘terrified’ as she did not know what he looked like.
‘Every single stranger you see on the street is a potential threat,’ she told jurors.
Windsor is also accused of stalking Mrs Breathwick’s Classic FM colleague Myleene Klass, 47, sending her an air pistol and fancy dress outfits and other ‘unwanted’ gifts as well as a note asking her to ‘correct him’ with a whip and cane.
Birmingham Crown Court has heard that Windsor also called Ms Klass a ‘naughty vixen’ and sent Mrs Breathwick a letter saying he wanted to go paddling in a lake with both women while drinking champagne.
Another described Mrs Breathwick as having ‘super mean sexy eyes like a vixen’.
The items and correspondence were intercepted at Global radio’s London office where the pair worked.
The air pistol – which Windsor said was a ‘joke’ – was intercepted by police before it reached the Ms Klass, the court heard.
Windsor from Stechford, Birmingham, has denied two charges of stalking.
Mrs Breathwick, 53, at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday, supported in court by her husband Robert Thorogood, 54, creator of the BBC series Death In Paradise
Classic FM presenter Katie Breathwick, 53, told how the dozens of letters and parcels sent by ‘unhinged’ Peter Windsor, 61, left her feeling ‘deeply, deeply distressed’ and concerned for her own safety.
Windsor is also accused of stalking Mrs Breathwick’s Classic FM colleague Myleene Klass , 47, sending her an air pistol and fancy dress outfits
Ms Klass, 47, pictured at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday where Peter Windsor is on trial
A court sketch of Peter Windsor in the dock at Birmingham Crown Court this week
Giving evidence from behind a screen on Tuesday, Mrs Breathwick, a broadcaster for 30 years, said she was used to receiving items from listeners but the communication from Windsor gave her a ‘prickling instinct’ as they were different.
She said she received between 80 and 100 items from him between March 2020 and December 2023.
They included one which referred to ‘witchcraft’ and ‘drinking with the SAS’.
He signed some of his letters ‘Sir Petey Pete’. Another package contained documents showing he had tried to change his name to James Bond.
Mrs Breathwick said: ‘The first time I ever really had a prickling instinct that this was a little bit different was March 2020.
‘The first note was something to do with how many push-ups and pull-ups he had done. It was weird.
‘It was a note of a personal nature talking about me as if he knew me.’
Some of the mail was addressed to her alone and some to both her and Ms Klass.
Answering questions from prosecutor Timothy Sapwell, Mrs Breathwick said she was concerned at the initial parcels, telling the court: ‘It felt unhinged and unpredictable and it’s pretty clear to me that whoever was writing them wasn’t in a good state.
‘Everyone was talking about mental health issues and it was pretty obvious to me that this person was in that situation and that I was the focus of those feelings. It’s deeply, deeply disturbing to know that.’
Asked why she was particularly concerned, the radio host said of the hand-written letters: ‘They were raving and unstable… but it was also the fact he named my colleague Myleene.
‘I was aware that it was probably important that she needed to be made aware of this.’
Mrs Breathwick, in a navy suit and white blouse, said: ‘I had absolutely no idea what this man looked like or what his intentions were. It was so weird and strange’.
‘I was scared because he was talking about how I looked, it meant he knew how I looked.
‘He was referring to how I looked and I didn’t know and still do not know how he looks… that put me at a disadvantage in terms of keeping myself safe.’
Others spoke about how he had been taking body building supplements and doing thousands of pull ups which she said made her feel like he was trying to tell her he was ‘physically powerful’ and would be able to overpower her.
On the pair of binoculars she said it made her feel ‘that he was watching me. I thought he had sent me the binoculars to say he was watching me’.
Another said he had ‘tried to imagine how good she looked’. She told the jury: ‘It seems sexual’.
Mrs Breathwick, a mother of two Cambridge graduate, said: ‘It’s clear he’s not well, that he’s unbalanced which makes him unpredictable and I’m frightened.’
She told how she had suffered panic attacks, sleepless nights and had been forced to install security cameras at her home while she even considered giving up work.
‘I have tried to pretend to my children that everything is OK because I don’t want them to be upset. I love my job and it’s one that I dreamt of doing but if this is the sort of attention that you get I’m not sure it’s something I want to do.’
Describing how she felt when she received a DIY will writing kit she said: ‘I was terrified because what was his intention? Was he telling me that I needed to write a will. Is that what that was? Why did he send them to me?’
Chocking back tears she said: ‘It’s really hard to be a woman who works in broadcasting, you get more than your fair share of malicious notes and letters.
‘There’s a desire to silence us in a way there isn’t with men.’
She said she was particularly disturbed when he sent a collection of stamps for her son.
Sobbing she told the court: ‘It made me feel guilty, it made me feel so guilty that I had put my son in that position because my job has got nothing to do with him.’
During cross examination Ms Breathwick was accused by defence barrister Philip Brunt of ‘catastrophising’. He asked her if she had been ‘letting your imagination run away with you?’.
She replied ‘no’. She said she believed Windsor was ‘dangerous, unidentifiable and means me harm’.
She said she had not sought an injunction against him as she thought the cost should have been met by her employer, who had refused.
She said she told Ms Klass about the correspondence against the wishes of her employer because she ‘felt a duty of care as a woman’ but did not get a reply.
Mrs Breathwick said it was only after a ‘chance’ encounter at 11pm at Global’s studios they realised they were both being targeted by the same man.
Mrs Breathwick was supported in court by her husband Robert Thorogood, 54, creator of the BBC series Death In Paradise, who was sitting in the public gallery.
The court heard Windsor was arrested in September last year at his home in Birmingham when police found a ‘number of items’ including maps of London’ showing where the women worked as well as a black leather glove, women’s stockings and a pair of binoculars.
Jurors have been told Windsor has a ‘history of mental illness and a longstanding diagnosis of schizophrenia’.
The trial continues.
