Caroline Flack's ex-fiance Andrew Brady has been jailed after pleading guilty to harassing a journalist.
The former Apprentice star, 31, engaged in a "campaign of hate" after failing to sell stories about her to the media.
He went on to target GB News presenter, and former Sun Executive Editor, Dan Wootton by sending a series of terrifying voicemail messages to him in which he branded him a "murdering little c**t".
Brady has been sentenced to four months in jail.
Sheffield Crown Court heard that Brady’s troubling behaviour had begun in the aftermath of Caroline Flack’s death, on February 15, 2020.
Prosecutors said the former Apprentice star had told his sister he was writing a book that he wanted to sell, but after no media organisations showed any interest, he began to harass Mr Wootton.
And sentencing him to four months in jail today, a judge described his actions as unrelated to any grief, but born from a "craving" for celebrity status.
Laura Marshall, prosecuting at Sheffield Crown Court, said: “He told his sister on his return from Australia that he had been writing down things about his life and relationship with Ms Flack and he might turn it into a book.
“There were messages sent to the complainant: “I want to be on your podcast, an interview, not a tell all. Sunday Sun gets exclusive.”
“The prosecution says he couldn’t sell his stories because nobody was prepared to buy them, and so instead he decided to take his anger out on people he blamed for that.”
Following his first set of rejections, Ms Marshall said Brady’s behaviour “escalated”.
She said he began to attack Mr Wootton on social media, online blogs, and left voice notes to the complainant's own telephone.
Ms Marshall said: “He would call him extremely derogatory terms, and on one Instagram message stated he felt like ‘getting rid of him once and for all, today’.”
“The defendant also tagged him on a post on Instagram of a picture of some testicles, saying: “Want to suck them, Dan Wootton? Bit of Yorkshire tea, no milk or sugar. Biggest bollocks in Britain.”
In one voicemail message, Ms Marshall said Brady was heard saying to Wootton: “You are an evil man who needs to be dealt with”, later calling him a “murdering little c*nt.”
Brady was initially arrested in February 2021, where he made threats not only towards Mr Wootton but also other journalists, including Piers Morgan, when he arrived at the police station.
In his police interview, the defendant claimed he’d been taken Ritalin for his ADHD a week prior to his arrest, which had made him feel “angry”.
He told police that one day he had smoked a bit of weed and “this energy came into me. I just type.”
He added: “My fingers just do the work, and whatever words appear on that f*cking screan, the words are not coming from my f*cking head.”
After Brady was bailed, Ms Marshall said he continued his harassment campaign towards Mr Wootton.
She said: “His online blogs made it clear: “I’m coming to get you,” calling the complainant a “coward” and a “grass”.
Brady was arrested again on April 27, 2021, which he live-streamed.
Police found weapons including an axe and cross bow and at his address.
Ms Marshall read out a statement from Dan Wootton, that said: “Andrew Brady is on a campaign on harassment against me that has directly threatened my life.
“I appreciate my job is controversial and high profile, but this is beyond the pale.
“He has left me fearing for my safety. He has also made a number of completely untrue and defamatory statements about me which have resulted in me receiving a stream of further abusive messages and threats.
“I was friends with Caroline up until she died, and we communicated privately.
“In one message she sent me in December 17, 2019, she said about Brady: “he’s a scary guy, still scares me even when she’s in Australia.”
Richard Dawson, representing Mr Brady, said to the court: “Character witnesses describe Andrew Brady as a kind-hearted man, a pleasure to meet and spend time with, and a hard-working man for whom nothing was too much trouble.
“They described the criminal course of conduct that he engaged in as being out of character, born of his intense grief of his sad passing of his partner, the late Caroline Flack.
But Judge Jeremy Richardson QC, said: “The truth about your harassment of Mr Wootton was very little to do with the death of Miss Flack.
“It has everything to do with your craving for celebrity status and your irritation that the press were not in the least bit interested in your somewhat uninteresting life.
“You became angry about this, and this is where the criminality started.”
Judge Richardson gave Brady a four month prison sentence, minus the time he has already spent on remand, and imposed a 10-year restraining order on him, forbidding him from contacting or approaching Mr Wootton.
He told him: “You have been very foolish. Don’t let this happen again. You have been warned what will happen should you step out of line by a fraction. Don’t do it anymore.”
