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Jannell tells of stalking horror

millions of viewers of the Oprah Winfrey show last night.The 30-year-old, who is now Bermuda Broadcasting Company's programme director, told how she was stalked for three years by a diagnosed schizophrenic who is now recovering in St. Brendan's Hospital.

millions of viewers of the Oprah Winfrey show last night.

The 30-year-old, who is now Bermuda Broadcasting Company's programme director, told how she was stalked for three years by a diagnosed schizophrenic who is now recovering in St. Brendan's Hospital.

She was joined by other television journalists who have been held at gun point, kidnapped, or stalked by viewers obsessed with them.

Miss Ford said her three-year ordeal began in 1987 when the man, who she did not want to identify, came to the studio and asked her for a date.

Approaching the man, who she had never seen before, with note pad in hand, Miss Ford said she thought the man was there to be interviewed.

But she soon found out that he was not interested in her as a journalist.

Miss Ford said she told the stranger "thanks, but no thanks'' when he asked her out and he politely accepted that answer.

"I did not hear from him until two days later,'' she recalled. "Then he called to say the date was confirmed.'' Miss Ford last night told The Royal Gazette she firmly turned down the man.

"But,'' she said, "the more I said no, the more persistent he became.

"He started calling me at my office frequently.'' To stop this, Miss Ford said she had all her calls screened.

But the obsessed man began coming to her job.

Miss Ford said he was thrown off ZBM's property several times.

"Finally we got a restraining order to keep him off the property and away from me,'' she said. That was in 1987.

But the man continued to stalk Miss Ford, even after she left BBC for about two years.

"First I was someone who he dated,'' she said. "Then I became his wife, then his wife with three children, then the wife who was keeping him from seeing his children, then a bandmaster of some jazz band he was supposed to have started.'' She said the man's bizarre fantasy and her worst nightmare climaxed one Wednesday when she was off work.

"I was at home washing my hair when I heard a knock at the door,'' she recalled. "I thought it was strange because no one usually comes to my house before calling.'' Miss Ford said as she approached the door with a towel wrapped around her hair, she saw the figure of the man she most feared.

"I said oh God, it's him,'' she said. "For the first time I really fell apart. I double-bolted my door and screamed at him to go away.'' Miss Ford said the man, who sent her obscene letters -- one of which she read on Oprah's show, was eventually charged with intruding on the privacy of a female and admitted to St. Brendan's.

Until last night, Miss Ford had only told the horrifying story to her family and she said her co-workers and a few friends knew "bits and pieces''.

She said she did not plan to take her story public.

But unknown to her, a co-worker learned that Oprah was looking for anchor people and news reporters who had encountered traumatic experiences and submitted her name.