Former Home and Away star Kate Ritchie copped ‘hundreds’ of sexually explicit texts and videos from a stranger and was forced to call the police when he flew from Perth to see her, a court has heard. 

The radio presenter and actress was rang NSW Police last week when she received a message from Gerard Ryan, 71, which said he was in the suburb where she lives and hoped to find her.

He had sent her ‘hundreds’ of messages from February 2022 through to April 2023, including ‘numerous naked photographs of the accused and numerous videos of the accused masturbating’, police facts, seen by the Daily Telegraph, claimed.

Ryan was arrested at a park in Sydney‘s eastern suburbs last Wednesday and charged with stalking, which he pleaded guilty to. He was also hit with an apprehended violence order banning him from approaching Ritchie.

Waverley Local Court heard about the campaign of harassment he waged toward Ritchie.

Ryan’s obsession with the TV star began last year when he started posting on her  social media accounts comments including ‘Hello Kate … I love you so much’.

Another post said: ‘I just want to kiss you my heart is pounding for you I love you madly’.

Ryan posted very explicit messages of a sexual nature about Ritchie on his own social media pages, and when she didn’t respond it got worse.

According to the police facts tendered in court, between 6 February 2022 and 25 April 2023, Ryan ‘has sent hundreds of messages to the complainant (Ritchie).

‘In these messages, the accused has sent several sexually explicit messages … included in the messages are numerous naked photographs of the accused and numerous videos of the accused masturbating.’