A MAN has admitted to harassment of BBC journalist Sima Kotecha as she was preparing to go live on air on May 10 last year. Ms Kotecha, from Popley, Basingstoke, was due to interview people in Leicester following government lockdown restriction announcements, but was forced to abandon the segment. MailOnline reported at the time that Rawlingson, of Glenfield Road, Leicester, denied the charge. However, he this week pleaded guilty to a lesser non-racially aggravated version of the offence, BBC News has reported. The prosecution did not initially accept his plea to the lesser charge, however the BBC reported that Ms Kotecha did not wish it to go to trial, and the plea to the lesser charge was therefore accepted.