Judge calls Cyrus fan ‘a danger’

The man accused of stalking teen star Miley Cyrus is “a danger”, a municipal judge in Georgia has said.

Judge Steven Scheer made his remarks as he refused a request to lower Mark McLeod’s $55,200 (£33,814) bail bond.

“I can’t deny him bond,” the judge said on Tuesday, “but if I could I would, because I do feel he’s a danger.”

McLeod, 53, was arrested at his home earlier this month after repeatedly trying to contact the Hannah Montana actress on a film set near Savannah.

His defence attorney said McLeod was an unemployed assistant plumber and would probably remain in jail.

“He’s not a danger,” James Byrne told reporters. “He’s been painted as this monster, but he’s got a family.”

Proposal

Cyrus, 16, recently completed shooting her new film, The Last Song, at Tybee Island, east of Savannah.

McLeod is accused of going to the island twice in June and again in August asking where he could find her.

A police report said McLeod claimed he had met Cyrus 18 months earlier and that she had accepted his marriage proposal.

He is said to have told police that Cyrus’ father, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, approved of their relationship and that Cyrus had sent him “secret messages” through her TV show.

“What he said I understand was unsettling to a lot of folks,” said Byrne. “But it doesn’t make him a stalker.”

Judge Scheer, of the Tybee Island Municipal Court, ruled there was sufficient evidence to send the case to Chatham County State Court, in Savannah.

McLeod, he said, had no chance of getting to Cyrus because of her security personnel but might be a threat to others.