A ‘FAN’ of Radio One DJ Tim Westwood threatened to kill him in text messages.

Mark Bulcock bombarded the radio station with over 100 messages including saying Westwood was ‘a dead man’ and that he was going ‘to be in a wheelchair’.

Yesterday he was found guilty of sending a grossly offensive, obscene or menacing message.

Reedley Magistrates' Court was told many of the messages were "grossly offensive" referring to public figures in abusive terms, some used obscene language and some of them were menacing.

They were sent to his BBC Radio One show after the hip hop star asked listeners to send in their comments.

Mr Westwood never saw the messages himself, but was put on a security alert and the Metropolitan Police were called in by concerned BBC bosses.

The DJ, now aged 53, was targeted in a drive-by shooting in July 1999 in the Kennington area of South London.

He was shot in the right arm by a motorcycle gunman while he was waiting at traffic lights.

His assistant Rob Newman was shot in the leg in the same attack.

The court heard that Bulcock, 43, described himself as a 'massive' fan of the presenter when he was arrested and questioned.

The defendant, of Lord Avenue, Stacksteads, denied the allegation that he sent the messages between February 19 and March 23 this year.

Bulcock, who had originally faced an allegation of harassment over the texts, has a record for burglary and dishonesty.

District Judge Peter Ward said on the one hand the messages might be regarded as 'gobbledygook', but they were offensive, certainly some could be said to be menacing and they couldn't have been ignored.

Tony Wood, BBC Radio One Operations Manager, told the hearing the message about Mr Westwood being a dead man, coupled with the use of the term NOT CODE on the text, indicated the sender was "not messing about."

He said: "We would take that as an immediate threat."

Mr Wood said he looked at the audit of text messages received and found some texts from the defendant's mobile phone using expletives, referrred to the IRA, members of the Royal Family and MI5 and some used racial terms.

He said: "A lot of them we would look at as being quite sinister in tone and not the usual kind of contact we would get from a listener.

"We would never not act on a text message we received that makes a direct threat to someone."

Prosecutor Julie Reddish said when Bulcock was questioned by police he said he was not prepared to talk about the use of the words NOT CODE.

The defendant said: "If somebody said they were going to kill me, I would laugh my head off."

She said Bulcock told officers his mental health was 100 per cent sound and when charged, he claimed: "It's just a misunderstanding."

Giving evidence, Bulcock, who represented himself, admitted he sent all, and then some of the messages, but claimed they were taken out of context and they could only be put into context by listening to the presenter's show.

The defendant, who described Mr Westwood's show as gangster-rap themed, said: "I'm getting stitched up by the police for just speaking the truth.

"I have just done what I thought was perfectly natural and was doing my bit for society."

Bulcock, who said he had just had a 'massive' heart attack and his dog had been poisoned, told the hearing: "I don't wish Tim Westwood any harm whatsoever. I admire the man."

District Judge Ward found the case proved and adjourned sentence.

He was bailed until August 25, for a pre-sentence report and the district judge said he was thinking of a high level community penalty and a restraining order.