Stalker tells of her lust for comic

Ken Dodd's stalker has told how she found the comic "incredibly sexy" and wanted to become his lover.

Troubled Ruth Tagg said she her obsession started when she watched him imitate a French kiss on a video.

The 35-year-old said: "I watched this scene over and over and I've never been so aroused. I played his records for hours."

"I thought Dodd was incredibly sexy and it was then I realised how much I wanted him as a lover.''

She went to Doddy's show and met him backstage, starting the 18-month harassment.

"His hair was swept back and he looked rather handsome. He asked for a kiss. I was over the moon as he drew me near and pressed his cheek against mine.

"I felt like I'd fallen in love for the first time.'"

During her campaign Tagg, from Bristol, bombarded Dodd, now 75, with saucy letters and photos of herself naked and blindfolded.

She was arrested in May last year after trying to set his Knotty Ash house alight and mailing a dead rat to his real lover, Anne Jones.

She has admitted arson and harassing Anne, but charges of harassing Dodd were dropped.

Manchester crown court will sentence her next month.

Published: 18 Oct 2003