Evicted tenant who launched campaign of hate against Portsmouth City Council employee is served justice

Dave Clark, a senior anti-social investigator at Portsmouth City Council, was in the line of fire from Stephen Fisher, 64, who became enraged after he was taken to county court to be evicted from his home of two decades.

For years nuisance Fisher plagued people living near him in St George’s Street, Portsea, and was slapped with an injunction during eviction proceedings.

After Fisher was evicted in December 2018, he embarked on a no-holds-barred campaign against Mr Clark that saw him leave notes falsely calling him a ‘paedophile gang leader,’ ‘pervert’ and ‘perjurer’ at the Somers Town hub on July 1 last year, Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court heard.

Then on October 11, Fisher left Mr Clark a voicemail alleging the same false claims and five days later returned a council letter to Mr Clark with the same accusations scrawled on top.

Fisher had been accused of putting up signs at Rudmore Roundabout and Blackfriars Road in July but pleaded guilty to harassment on a basis not including the signs.

Fisher had attempted to vacate his guilty plea and changed lawyers after his previous hearing in September.

But appearing in court on Thursday no attempt was made to deny the offence as he again admitted the charge on the basis as previously agreed.

Fisher was given a 12-month community order, told to pay £300 compensation and £200 costs, and complete 10 rehabilitation days.

Mr Clark said: ‘I’m pleased the situation has been resolved and (Fisher) accepted he was guilty in the matter. The evidence was overwhelming with CCTV and recorded telephone conversations.

‘I hope (Fisher) can move on with his life.’

The 58-year-old admitted the campaign had taken its toll on both himself and other city council employees.

‘It was extremely unpleasant as a family man to have graffiti posted about you that your kids could see,’ Mr Clark said.

‘It made me feel very uneasy to be targeted like that when I was just doing my job. We’re used to adverse situations but when it gets personal that’s when they have to accept the consequences.

‘I hope the sentence sends out a message that this sort of behaviour won’t be tolerated to city council employees and me as a person.’

He added: ‘In my 20 years of doing the job I’ve never experienced anything like that before. It has been ongoing... and had a severe negative impact.’

Outside court in September Fisher approached The News and said he ‘had no choice’ but to plead guilty.

He said: ‘I’m not a bad person, I’ve never been violent. But first of all I was a racist, then I was a bully, then I was a gangster and now I’m a fantasist. When’s it going to stop?’

SEE ALSO: Prolific burglar jailed

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

The News is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news online - as well as our new Puzzles section.