Stalker copied horror film to target nurse and his girlfriend
A stalker who styled herself after a character from a horror film has been jailed.
Holly White, 27, sent sinister messages to a male nurse and his girlfriend under the name of Kathy Bates, the actress who played an obsessive character in the psychological thriller Misery.
White, who was a psychiatric patient at Liverpool's Clock View mental health facilities in 2019, became infatuated with Daniel McCann, who was a nursing assistant.
Sefton magistrates' court heard White first messaged him on Facebook claiming she wanted to thank him for his help and told him: 'You are a credit to the NHS.'
White claimed that she had fallen in love with Mr McCann. When he did not reply to her messages, she contacted him under the alias Kathy Bates, the actress who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Annie Wilkes, a murderous former nurse who holds a best-selling author captive, claiming to be his 'number one fan'.
Mr McCann brushed off the messages at first, but contacted the police when White sent death threats to Eva Hegarty, his girlfriend, writing: 'Hope you can run because if I ever see you, you are dead. I hate you, you dirty little paedo. Good luck getting a fella if you ever break up with Daniel.'
Ms Hegarty also received messages from the Kathy Bates account, which said: 'Does Danny being fat make you uncomfortable?' and 'No engagement ring yet sexy?'
The couple, who are both nurses, were disturbed by the messages and moved away from Liverpool to an undisclosed location.
'I had to move away'
In statements read to the court, Mr McCann and Ms Hegarty said White had left them 'extremely anxious and stressed'.
Ms Hegarty said: 'She threatened to hurt me and she even stated that she hoped I would get raped. I wouldn't stay on my own in my own home. I was constantly looking over my shoulder.
'At one stage, I was too afraid to walk down the street in daylight hours in case she was around. She has really changed the way we are living our lives.'
Mr McCann said: 'I am constantly stressed and paranoid about any contact from Holly. I felt intimidated by her. Eventually, I had to move away from Liverpool, a city I was born and raised in.'
White also sent topless photos to Mr McCann's mother.
The court also heard White had spent two months in hospital for various mental health issues, including bipolar disorder, which is how she crossed paths with Mr McCann.
According to the Daily Mail, White was jailed for 16 weeks after admitting to one charge of harassment against the couple between February and June last year, along with one count of threatening to do serious harm to Ms Hegarty.
White was also issued a restraining order that banned her from contacting the couple for 10 years.
Steve Charters, defending, said that White was having relationship issues, has since reduced her medication and is now in a 'better place'.
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