Coronation Street legend and the original face of Nick Tilsley, Adam Rickitt has been through a sickening ordeal that rivals the darkest of soap plots recently.
A stalking campaign, orchestrated by Ron Kleihues, left Adam in abject fear, with Kleihues confessing to ‘fantasising’ about raping a child while harassing Adam and his wife, Katy Rickitt.
Adam and Katy had barred Kleihues from their Knutsford pub, Dexter & Jones, leading to an onslaught of letters and emails from the perpetrator. Though Kleihues initially denied charges of stalking and harassment, he changed his plea following Adam’s testimony.
Manchester Evening News, who attended the court proceedings, published an in-depth report of the case, including Adam’s chilling testimony regarding his interactions with Kleihues.
Kleihues, who was working at the nearby Legh Arms, initially contacted Adam back in 2024. Adam explained that he was under the impression that Kleihues was seeking a job, but instead accused him of hacking his telephone and email.
Adam denied the hacking and Kleihues later requested another meeting, this time with a pub regular and some other members of staff.
This meeting came with incredibly disturbing revelations.
‘I found him quite odd and I did record the whole conversation. I said, ‘please tell me it is not about the stupid hacking thing’ but we went into an hour and a half conversation where he confessed to watching child porn and fantasising about raping a child.’
Kleihues denied ever harming a child but admitted that he was finding it increasingly difficult to refrain from doing so. Adam immediately contacted the police to inform them that Kleihues was no longer welcome in his establishment.
‘He said he had not done anything to a child but he was finding it harder and harder not to.
‘My big fear was not doing enough and that a child was going to get raped because I had not managed to get him stopped. I asked if he had raped a child and he replied ‘no’, but said ‘the demons’ were keeping him awake at night. It was going through my head every day and I felt incredibly guilty that a child was at risk.’
Following his barring, Kleihues continued to bombard Adam and Katy with both written and digital communication, with one particularly chilling letter insisting that, should he remain barred, he would destroy the Rickitt’s lives.
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Kleihues went on to develop an obsession with a female member of the bar staff and accused Rickitt of preventing him from developing a relationship with her, threatening grave recrimination if he continued to keep them apart.
Adam pleaded with Kleihues to leave the member of staff alone, informing him that he was terrorising her and, in the process, deeply frightening other staff members. He pleaded with Kleihues to seek professional help for his mental health.
Christmas brought further horror for the staff and patrons of the bar. Adam detailed finding a letter on Christmas Day from Kleihues when they entered the pub on Christmas Day laden with threats. Kleihues later turned up to a Christmas event, necessitating Adam to come in on his day off and physically remove him from the premises, amid fears therat Kleihues was carrying a weapon.
Adam detailed the effect that the campaign had on him, describing that the physical and mental symptoms of anxiety led him to seek medical help, with him being prescribe medication.
Kleihues faces up to 16 weeks in prison under sentencing guidelines and is due to be sentenced next month. He was bailed on condition he not contact Mr Rickitt and his staff and does not enter Dexter and Jones.