Countdown presenter Rachel Riley was left "in genuine fear for her personal safety" after receiving death threats from a former contestant who developed a dangerous obsession with her and the show's producer.
Laura Greenwood, 42, who appeared on the Channel 4 game show in 2012-2013, sent chilling messages threatening to murder both Riley and long-serving producer Damian Eadie.
In one particularly disturbing message, Greenwood wrote: "When I'm ready, it's him and Riley first and then as many as I can possibly take before I go to prison."
The threats prompted serious concerns for the victims' safety, with the Crown Prosecution Service confirming that "numerous safeguarding measures had to be put in place to protect them from what they perceived to be a direct threat to their lives."
BBC | Rachel Riley opened up about the frightening ordeal
Greenwood, formerly known as Rachel Moran, reached the quarter-finals of Countdown during her five-episode stint but was sectioned before she could progress further.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that she initially completed filming "with no issues", but approximately two months later sent a two-page "ranting" letter to producer Damian Eadie from the Broad Oak Unit mental health facility.
The letter was disposed of without further action, but over a decade later, in December 2023, Greenwood began posting on Channel 4's online forum.
She accused Eadie of "spying on her" and editing her final episode "in a very peculiar way", whilst branding the 28-year veteran producer a "paedophile" and "slimy weirdo".
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|Rachel Riley has been left in 'genuine fear'
Further posts in January 2024 included threats to "beat the living s*** out of" Eadie.
The death threats escalated dramatically in July 2024 when Greenwood used Channel 4's contact form to send explicit threats.
Using an anonymous name with a fake email address, she wrote: "I will be killing that mountainous psychopath Eadie and Riley and anyone else I can find connected to Channel 4," along with further threats.
A second message followed the next day under the name "Doctor Lecter", stating: "We f***ing well will be killing Eadie and Riley and whomsoever else clearly does not belong in this, or any other, cosmos."
When police visited Greenwood at HMP Altcourse in December 2024, she claimed: "I'm the victim.
"I have ranted, I flipped my lid. Absolute zombie, never hurt anybody in my life."
Judge Brian Cummings KC sentenced Greenwood to six months in prison, to run consecutively to her existing two-year-eight-month sentence for arson, criminal damage, harassment and malicious communications.
The court heard she had previously called a gas engineer a "fat paedophile" and threatened to smash his face in.
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|Rachel Riley received death threats from a former Countdown contestant
Greenwood, appearing via video link from HMP Downview on Thursday, pleaded guilty to three counts of sending offensive communications and three counts of sending messages threatening death or serious harm.
She was also issued an indefinite restraining order prohibiting contact with Riley or Eadie.
CHANNEL 4 | Rachel Riley has been a familiar face on Countdown for over a decadeSenior Crown Prosecutor Matthew Dixon emphasised: "These sorts of abusive and threatening communications are criminal and should never be seen as just messages.
"The Crown Prosecution Service treats any threat to life, no matter how it was sent or received, extremely seriously."