A Cornwall journalist and parish council chairman has been given a five year Stalking Protection Order after sending unwanted letters and Christmas gifts to a family in Oxfordshire.

Truro Magistrates granted a request for the order from Devon and Cornwall Police against Graham Michael Smith, 68, of West End, Station Road, St Mabyn, Bodmin.

Smith, the chair of St Mabyn Parish Council, was said to have sent the family numerous unwanted letters, a parcel, Christmas card and a birthday card through the post to the victim.

The request was granted after magistrates decided he posed a risk associated with stalking to another person and the order was necessary to protect another from such risk.

The Stalking Protection Order was granted for five years which prohibits him from having any contact with a named woman, her husband and their children.

He was warned that failure to comply with any term of this order is a criminal offence, for which he could be sentenced to prison or detention.

Smith is the chair of St Mabyn Parish Council and a former BBC and ITV journalist. He also worked at the Packet as the editor of its, then, Smallholder magazine before moving to work for the West Briton and Cornwall Live before leaving and setting up his own paid for local news website, Cornwall Reports.