Ex-city basketball coach found guilty

8:00am Friday 4th July 2008

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A FORMER Worcester basketball coach has been convicted of harassment and intimidating witnesses.

At Hereford Magistrates Court yesterday Deputy District Judge Robert Cockrell dismissed George Fraser-Barker’s version of events following his separation with Emma-Jane Gardner.

He said: “I have listened to both the complainant and the defendant giving contradictory evidence at length in this trial, and it is clear one of them was not telling the truth. I have to say the complainant Emma-Jane Gardner was a far more impressive witness than the defendant.”

Fraser-Barker, aged 49, now of Haywood Heath, West Sussex, but formerly of Egremont Gardens, Warndon Villages, Worcester, had denied one count of harassing his former partner, Miss Gardner, and two counts of intimidating a witness.

The trial heard how, after police issued him with an harassment warning last year, preventing him from contacting Miss Gardner, whom Fraser-Barker had had a 13-year relationship with, he continued to bombard her with letters, and was seen several times in the street where she lived.

The judge summed up the case at length, saying: “He was obsessed with Emma-Jane Gardner and could not let go.

“Any reasonable man would have realised such conduct would cause distress.”

The court heard that during a previous court hearing, at Worcester Magistrates Court on February 7, Fraser-Barker had mouthed “unfriendly” words to a domestic violence advocate, representing Miss Gardner, and had made a “throat-cutting gesture” towards her.

“Other persons, entirely independent, including court officers and a member of the press, independently saw the act, which caused them concern,” the judge said.

The following day Fraser-Barker had made phone calls to Miss Gardner, and in one had said: “You’re dead.”

The judge described Fraser-Barker as an “evasive individual” who had not been frank or truthful about the matters before the court.

He adjourned sentencing until the week commencing Monday, July 14, when Fraser-Barker, who was remanded in custody, is due at Worcester Crown Court.