FORMER Coronation Street star Adam Rickitt has told a court that a stalker left him living in fear.
The 47-year-old said he had to make safety arrangements amid concerns that Ron Kleihues would ambush and stab him and his wife.
Adam said Kleihues, 52, left a letter at his bar “saying that he was going to end me if I kept on insisting denying him happiness”.
The stalker even told Adam that he “fantasised” about raping a child during the year-long campaign of terror.
The actor — Corrie’s Nick Tilsley, and Kyle Kelly in Hollyoaks — banned Kleihues from his craft beer bar, and he put him in a headlock when he menaced staff.
Adam, who had to go on anti-anxiety drugs, told Crewe magistrates: “My big fear was not doing enough and that a child was going to get raped because I hadn’t managed to get him stopped.
“My fear was also that he would attack us.
“I wouldn’t let my wife walk home alone and I was scared for the staff.”
The court heard Adam, married to former Good Morning Britain presenter Katy Rickitt, thought Kleihues wanted a job at his Dexter and Jones bar in Knutsford, Cheshire, when he first contacted the actor in 2024.
But after weeks of harassment, he told him: “Please seek help.
“You’re upsetting a lot of people.”
Kleihues, of Knutsford, had denied stalking and harassment but changed his plea after Adam’s evidence.
He was bailed for sentencing next month and faces up to 16 weeks in jail.
He must not contact Adam and his staff, or enter his bar.
