BBC newsreader left shaken by death threats and racist abuse after sicko sends him bullet in post
NEWSREADER Clive Myrie says he has been left shaken by death threats that detailed the bullet that would be used to kill him.
The 59-year-old spoke out about the racist abuse he has received in his 30 years or so at the BBC.
Clive said he had been sent faeces and cards with gorillas on. In one email he was told: “You shouldn’t be on TV, you dress like a pimp.”
One man’s threats became so serious he was tracked down, arrested and prosecuted.
Clive told Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs today: “His death threats involved talking about the kind of bullet that he’d use in the gun to kill me and this kind of stuff.
“I was shaken for a while. I thought it’s just someone showboating, it’s just bravado.
“Then they tracked down this character and it turned out he had previous convictions for firearms offences.
“So I thought, ‘Oh, my God, what, if anything, might this person have been planning?’.”
It is believed he was referring to right-wing extremist Ian Hargreaves, 71, who was jailed for 18 months for abusing and threatening Clive, as well as F1 driver Lewis Hamilton and racing commentator Jack Nicholls.
But despite the prosecution, Mastermind presenter Clive said the abuse had increased in recent months.
He put it down to being on screen more since replacing news anchor Huw Edwards, who quit over allegations he gave money to a young person who sent him sexually explicit photos.