A former journalist who left his role on a Yorkshire daily after making openly critical social media posts about his bosses has pleaded guilty in court to five charges of harassment.
Robert Sutcliffe resigned from the Huddersfield Daily Examiner in September after having been suspended the previous month.
Sutcliffe appeared in court last week on five charges of harassment without violence, to which he pleaded guilty.
Two of the five offences were carried out against the same female victim while the other three offences each related to different female victims.
Sutcliffe admitted the charges in an appearance at Leeds Magistrates Court last Tuesday. His sentencing is due on February 7.
The former journalist was bailed on condition that he does not contact any of the victims or post anything on social media about them.
The five offences are said to have taken place between June 2023 and November 2023.
The indictment for the first offence stated that Sutcliffe sent numerous unwanted messages and put numerous posts on social media causing the victim to feel harassed, alarmed and distressed.
The second offence, against the same victim, related solely to social media posts while the third and fourth offences related to text messages.
The indictment for the fifth offence stated that Sutcliffe sent numerous unwanted messages as well as uploading social media posts about the victim, causing her to feel harassed, alarmed and distressed
Sutcliffe began his career editing a weekly newspaper in Doncaster in 1989 before moving to work at the Barnsley Chronicle, the Bradford Telegraph & Argus and then serving as the Calderdale reporter for the Yorkshire Post for 11 years.
