Actress Samantha Morton 'stalked by childhood friend who bombarded her with texts and phone calls'

The 30-year-old actress and mother became so worried after being bombarded with "angry" letters, phone calls and up to 11 texts a day that she had security cameras installed in her home.

At first Miss Morton, who co-starred with Tom Cruise in Minority Report, assumed they were from a "crazed fan".

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She was "very frightened" when she realised they were from Noel Watts, 42, who had dated one of her teenage friends.

She said she met him when as a 13-year-old she frequently ran away from her care home in Nottingham to her friend's flat at a homeless shelter, where she felt "intimidated" by his friendliness towards her.

Giving evidence at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court, Miss Morton said she had not seen Watts for more than a decade when she received a letter from him in 2004.

"The letter seemed like this person knew me, he seemed to think we were very close and indeed that we were in love," she said. "The person said he was in love with me and if I won an Oscar I should thank him for it.

"I get a lot of fan mail and I thought it was a crazed fan.

"But I was very frightened because this person was very angry with me for not being in contact and he said he had been in prison for some years.

"The letter made me feel frightened, vulnerable, exposed and certainly afraid for my family, my daughter."

She said the name on the letter rang a distant bell and she eventually realised it was from Watts, who she had not seen since she moved to London aged 16.

After Watts, from Clifton, Nottingham, continued to send Miss Morton's agent Nicola Van Gelder letters and make "threatening" phone calls, he was given a harassment order and banned from contacting her, the court heard.

But just after Christmas 2007, Miss Van Gelder received a text from a number she did not recognise addressed "to Sam c/o Nikky".

She forwarded it to Miss Morton, who was in hospital at the time having just given birth to Edie, her daughter by her actor fiance Harry Holm.

She also has a seven-year-old daughter by a former partner.

The sender apologised for not having been able to see her recently and said he was "peed off" with her for not contacting him.

"I didn't know who it was from because there was no name," said Miss Morton. "It made me very frightened. I thought, 'Who is so p***** off with me that they are finding out my agent's details'."

Over the next month, her agent received up to 11 texts a day from Watts and was bombarded with calls demanding to speak to her.

He was arrested on January 24 at Miss Van Gelder's West End offices after sending a message saying: "I'm on my way."

In court Miss Morton sat five feet away from Watts, shielded by a screen.

She said she had good reason to fear he would be violent towards her, because of what she knew about his background during her teenage years.

Marc Robinson, prosecuting, said: "The subject of the texts, although not directly threatening, were very emotional and tended towards the suggestion that Mr Watts is in love with Miss Morton - something which is not borne out by the facts, is certainly not reciprocated and not brought on by any of her actions."

Before the trial started Watts, who sacked his legal team last week, was banned from cross-examining the actress and other witnesses.

Watts denies two counts of harassment in December 2007 and January 2008.

The trial continues.