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A retired Devon bank manager has just received his 100th monthly threatening letter from TV Licensing – even though he has not owned a television set since 1997.

Derek Cheesbrough does not have the internet at home and does not own a computer or smartphone.

But the letters keep coming – the latest arrived “in a suitably intimidating red envelope”.

And while he ignores the letters, he fears that some elderly people who don’t watch television might be intimidated into paying up.

“I’ve had 100 letters, each threatening a knock on the door any time day or night, but no one has ever come.”

Mr Cheesbrough previously hit the headlines when he reached his 50th letter. That prompted others in a similar position to contact him.

“I had letters from a 92-year-old blind woman from Cornwall, and a 72-year-old living on the moors with no TV reception,” he said.

The BBC outsources licence fee collections to Capita. The letters contain dire warnings about the consequences of illegal TV viewing and say he should “expect a visit from Bath Enforcement Officers”.

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Mr Cheesbrough claimed that the “threats” in the letter represents “a ruthless, uncaring programme of inducing mental duress to require an innocent recipient to reply when they have no legal obligation to do so”.

A TV Licensing spokesperson said: “We try not to trouble people who genuinely don’t need a licence.

“We have a duty to enforce the law and so we write to all addresses where there is no TV licence or a current declaration to say that one isn’t needed.”

Mr Cheesbrough agreed that a less threatening letter, sent out once a year, would be less problematic.

(Image: Penny Cross / Plymouth Live)

Mr Cheesbrough gave up TV in 1997. “I thought I was one of those clever people who could be selective and switch off,” he said.

“But one evening I found myself having spent two hours watching rubbish. So I wrote to TV Licensing to say I was dispensing with my set and would contact them if ever I decided to get another one.

“Within a week I had a letter from Capita telling me I was breaking the law.”