Colin Stott, pictured, had a brief affair with secretary Carrie Knight in 1985 but he became fixated with her when she gave birth to daughter Tyla two years later
A former TV psychic known as ‘The Dowsing Detective’ has been banned from contacting a mother and daughter after he waged a sinister 30 year campaign in which he wrongly claimed he was the child’s father.
Colin Stott had a brief affair with secretary Carrie Knight in 1985 but he became fixated with her when she gave birth to daughter Tyla two years later.
Over the ensuing decades, Stott hounded Mrs Knight and her daughter with letters and cards and as Tyla grew up he made her aware of his relationship with her mother.
Despite being repeatedly told he was not Tyla’s father, Stott would send the daughter letters each Christmas and also on her birthday.
Police were called in by Tyla after Stott wrote a sexually explicit short novel about a man who becomes attracted to a schoolgirl then sent the contents via a computer disc to the council worker at her home near Manchester.
Tyla – who was herself harassed over a six year period – was said to be ‘deeply disturbed’ by Stott’s ‘dark behaviour’ and claims police did little to support her during her ordeal.
The widower had appeared on local TV programmes and in regional newspapers in the 1990s to talk about his ‘dowsing services’ and claims of helping locate missing people and pets using ‘psychometry’.
At Manchester Magistrates’ Court Stott, now 61, of Prestwich, near Bury admitted harassment and was banned from contacting 65-year old Miss Knight and Tyla for 10 years under the terms of a restraining order.
Stott appeared on local TV programmes and in regional newspapers in the 1990s to talk about his ‘dowsing services’ and claims of helping locate missing people and pets using ‘psychometry’
Stott was sentenced to a 12 month community order and was ordered to complete 80 hours unpaid work. He will also attend a three month alcohol treatment programme. He was also ordered to pay £385 court costs.
District Judge Nicholas Sanders told Stott: ‘I find this very disturbing especially the fact that you don’t realise that what you did was entirely wrong.
‘I’m hoping this order will give you the necessary time to reflect on your actions and examine where you will go from here.’
As Stott was leaving the dock he said to the judge: ‘Thank you sir for this lenient sentence, it’s greatly appreciated.’
But in statement Tyla after the case said: ‘I didn’t receive any support whatsoever from police and I felt like I wasn’t being heard.
‘At the time I wasn’t sleeping, I was scared to go to work. I had to set up a system at work where I left at different times – it was really difficult and stressful.’
In 1995 Stott claimed his use of astral projections helped him locate the body of a missing jogger who drowned in a canal and in 1999, pinpointed the whereabouts of a stolen cat and appeared on Channel 4 show about missing World War Airmen.
At Manchester Magistrates’ court, Stott was sentenced to a 12 month community order and was ordered to complete 80 hours unpaid work. He will also attend a three month alcohol treatment programme. He was also ordered to pay £385 court costs
In 2005 he said he had been asked by the then Burmese government to locate a batch of Spitfire planes thought to be buried an air base and even claimed he could use his techniques to predict the future movement of stock market shares and commodity prices.
He also said hot used psychometry to pinpoint the approximate whereabouts of Moors murder victim Keith Bennett.
On his website Stott claims: ‘Missing items, pets, loved ones, even one’s own destiny can all be found by powers of concentration alone.
‘There is nothing which cannot be found. As a dowser and world authority on Astral Projected Triangulation I locate at a corporate level, water, mineral deposits and oil for prospective companies.
‘I sell psychic readings for items such as gold in the ground, missing pets, or long lost relatives. All I need is a photo of said item sent to me together with a map of your area.’
But the court heard Stott’s persistent behaviour towards the mother and daughter caused them ‘alarm and distress.’
Prosecutor Carl Gaffney said: ‘The charges officially relate to events from 2008 up until June 2017 – but some went back further than that to 1985.
‘Mr Stott had a brief liaison with Carrie Knight back in 1985 and he had fallen for her, so to speak.
At Manchester Magistrates’ court, District Judge Nicholas Sanders told Stott: ‘I find this very disturbing especially the fact that you don’t realise that what you did was entirely wrong.
‘He would send her letters about continuing their liaison to which she always declined. These feelings he had for her grew stronger as time went on.
‘He continued to send letters to her and her daughter. She resisted these letters politely but firmly.
‘He explained that he had come to believe that he was the father of her daughter. This caused a great deal of distress not just to Miss Knight herself, but to the whole family.
‘He was incredibly persistent and this made her daughter aware of the history between them. Miss Knight sent him many messages saying he was not to contact her anymore and she told him he definitely wasn’t the father.
‘The most disturbing aspect of all was that he wrote a book or short novella that came from his imagination, where the male protagonist portrayed a version of himself that he believed to be real, but wasn’t.
‘The contents of the book were written in such a way that anyone would know that he believed them to be true.
‘There was talk of the protagonist who was attracted to a young woman who was of school age, there were spankings, beatings and sexual imagery.
‘The way he phrased it made it seem like a reality – when in fact it was his imagination.
‘He sent this book via computer disk to Miss Knight’s daughter for her to read and this was the final straw and the police were called.
‘He doesn’t understand what he did was wrong. Whilst this may have been a mild form of harassment as he didn’t physically approach them, this feels much darker and caused much distress to those involved. This was clearly a reality that he built for himself.’
In mitigation Khadim Al’hassan, Stott’s barrister, said: ‘My client has no issue with non contact with the complainant.
‘Since his arrest he has not attempted to approach Ms Knight or her daughter.
‘Throughout that whole period of time he didn’t think what he was doing was wrong. But he wants to close the chapter on that part of his life.
‘I think he does need help with his thinking skills and his alcohol dependency. He only sent letters at Christmas and birthdays and such.
‘We need to get down to the bottom of what was the cause behind all this, as he does not know himself.
‘He had lost his wife during that time and it massively affected the relationships with his family.
‘He is now in a stable relationship with his partner who is sat in court, fully supportive of him today. She tells me ‘he is a nice, caring man.’
‘He has also had issues with his tenant who has refused to pay his rent for the last six/seven months, so that’s has been an added bonus to the stress caused by these proceedings.
‘Whilst this may be a disturbing set of events, such events that have lasted an incredibly long time, we need to get down to the bottom of why he sent those letters and give him the help he needs.’