Countdown contestant Laura Greenwood got through to the quarterfinals of the Channel 4 show before she later began peppering online fan forums with vile posts. She accused a producer of being a paedophile and then issued a string of further hateful messages asking when he and Ms Riley would be murdered. One twisted message read: "When I'm ready, it's him and Riley first and then as many as I can take before I go to prison."

On Thursday afternoon, Liverpool Crown Court heard Greenwood, of Bedford Street South, in Liverpool, featured on five Countdown episodes during 2012 and 2013. Greenwood, 42, was charged with three counts of sending a communication conveying an offensive communication and three of sending a message threatening death or serious harm.

Prosecutor Jonathan Keane described how producer Damian Eadie received a two-page "ranting" letter from Greenwood two months after her time on Countdown ended in 2013. This letter, which had a return address at the mental health inpatient facility Broad Oak Unit, was ultimately disposed of by staff, with no further action being taken at this stage.

A decade later, in December 2023, Greenwood posted on Channel 4's website on an online forum, accusing Mr Eadie of "spying on her and accusing him of editing her final episode in a very peculiar way".

On January 18, 2024, she branded him a paedophile as well as a "baldy c*** who she would beat the living s*** out of any day".

More vile messages followed, and one on July 12 read: "We f***ing well will be killing Eadie and Riley and whomsoever else clearly does not belong in this, or any other, cosmos."

Greenwood has two previous convictions for seven offences. This includes a two-year and eight-month sentence given this March for harassment, arson, criminal damage and malicious communications matters, in which a gas engineer who attended the defendant's property was called a "fat paedophile" and warned that his "face would be smashed in".

Yesterday, Isabella Denn-White, defending, told the court: "Her life spiralled negatively. She became homeless and moved between hostels. She tells me that she was over what happened on the show, but the things she has suffered since, she says, caused her to explode and tip over again. She felt that people were wronging her in all aspects of life. She committed these and other offences spanning the same period."

Ms Denn-White added: "She says, now, that she is in a better place. She is going through counselling. She is at the point of forgiving and not having the same feelings of grievances. She does want to get out of prison and move on with her life.

"She has suffered adversity throughout her adult life. She suffered significant trauma, and this resulted in suicide attempts. She transitioned in her adult life from male to female and has suffered a number of difficulties in relation to that, including being remanded for a period of time in a male prison."

Greenwood, who appeared via video link to HMP Downview, admitted three counts of sending a communication conveying an offensive communication and three of sending a message threatening death or serious harm.

Judge Brian Cummings KC imposed a six-month prison sentence in addition to the current term for the other convictions.

He said: "These offences had the potential to cause very serious harm. There is no evidence that they did in fact cause that level of harm, but I am satisfied that the actual harm caused was nonetheless serious."

Greenwood was also handed a restraining order indefinitely banning any contact with Ms Riley and Mr Eadie. She responded to the sentencing, saying, "Thanks. Thank you very much."