Ex-reporter 'in breach of bail'

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A former TV reporter accused of breaching a restraining order banning her from contacting a football chairman has fled to Spain, a court has heard.

Tara Stout, 36, now faces arrest after a judge was told she had left the country because she did not think she was going to get a fair trial.

She was convicted in 2006 of harassing Crystal Palace's Simon Jordan.

But Stout from Clapham, south-west London, allegedly phoned him and sent a CD with explicit images of herself.

The former BBC and Sky News reporter was subsequently charged with breaching the banning order by contacting Mr Jordan between 1 January and 10 May 2007.

She denied the charges at a court hearing last August.

Newspaper interview

Stout's trial was originally fixed for last week, but the case had to be adjourned after Mr Jordan contacted the court and explained his wife was pregnant and overdue.

Stout was then told to attend a hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday so a new trial date could be set.

But, after she failed to appear, prosecutor Sally Mertens explained that police had learnt the apparent reason for her absence from a recent interview she had given to the Croydon Advertiser.

"She said she had gone to Spain because she didn't think she was going to get a fair trial," said Ms Mertens.

She told the court that police had since spoken to the author of the article and, if accurate, it meant the defendant had breached the "residence condition" of her bail by leaving the country.

Judge Martin Beddoe then told the barrister: "On the material presented to me, she is patently in breach of her bail and the only way to advance this matter, other than by trying her in her absence, is by a warrant not backed for bail."