Richard Brittan on the UK quiz show Countdown. He pleaded guilty to assault and stalking. Photo / Channel 4
Richard Brittan on the UK quiz show Countdown. He pleaded guilty to assault and stalking. Photo / Channel 4
A former quiz show champion turned novelist traveled 800km to attack an 18-year-old supermarket worker who gave his book a bad review.
Richard Brittain, a champion of the UK TV show Countdown in 2006, tracked down Paige Rolland after he took issue with her criticism of his book.
Brittan usedthe internet to uncover details of where she lived and worked then traveled from Bedford in England to Glenrothes in Scotland. He came up behind her as she packed shelves and struck her on the head with a bottle of wine.
Paige Rolland says she feared she could have died if he had struck harder. She now struggles with fear and anxiety in public spaces.
Brittan pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to assaulting Ms Rolland to her severe injury on October 3, 2014. He also admitted to a second charge of stalking a university classmate, who moved from London to Glasgow, and has been refused bail.
The protagonist in his novel, The World Rose, is based on a woman he stalked. Brittan has openly discussed his stalking on his blog under a post "The Benevolent Stalker".
In his blog, subtitled "Musings from the author and Countdown champion" he describes himself as schizophrenic.
Under a post titled, The True Meaning of The World Rose, he states: "The World Rose is the work of a schizophrenic at the fullest extent of his fantasy. It was the last blaze of my false self before I finally spun out of control."
Elsewhere he writes: "The World Rose is a book about hope. It is also about a royal maiden, a bulldog, a bard, a key, a viscount and an emperor. The story starts in the mould of a classic fairytale, yet do not be fooled, for I aim to bamboozle and bedazzle as much as to thrill and delight."
Other works by the author include Boondoggle and The Chocolate Hologram.
