Police release handwriting samples in bid to catch stalker

Avon and Somerset Police are searching for a stalker who has been sending harrassing messages in greeting cards - including threats to commit rape - to the same woman for six years.

The letters are usually signed “Gordon” or “your stalker” and are sent from within the Bristol postmark area, the police said.

The letters also usually five crosses - one large X and four small Xs around it - and are always written in capitals and often have an animal pictured on the front, regularly a cat, the BBC writes.

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The police have now released the letters to the public in a bid to track the perpetrator down, and hoping others may recognise the stalker's handwriting.

The cards have been being sent more than six years to a female victim in her 40s and have “become more graphic and threatening over the past two”, The Guardian writes. The victim contacted police in January 2016.

DC Patrick Prescott, the lead officer on the case, said: “We’re releasing extracts of the offender’s handwriting and signature as we believe someone will recognise the style and know who the sender is.”

“Thorough analysis of the communications has been carried out and the possibility the offender has sent, or is sending cards or letters with similar content to other people cannot be excluded. If you have been receiving similar correspondence then we want to hear from you.”