Latest news with #AlexandraSaper
Daily Mail
26-05-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Horror of the traffic warden who stalked me: He bombarded me with graphic messages... then came to my home with a rope. Influencer ALEXANDRA SAPAR tells her story for first time
Alexandra Saper has frequent nightmares in which she sees images of the man who stalked her for three years. She has never met him, but it has proved impossible for the 33-year-old influencer and travel blogger to clear her mind of all the sickening and often violent fantasies with which Rob Keating bombarded her in hundreds of explicit messages and videos.
Daily Mail
25-05-2025
- Daily Mail
American travel influencer breaks silence on 'extremely disturbing' stalking ordeal after being targeted by British obsessive with rope in his suitcase who warned her to 'get kidnap insurance'
An American travel influencer has spoken out about being stalked by a British obsessive after he flew to her home in Bali with rope in his suitcase. Talking for the first time since Rob Keating's conviction, Alexandra Saper said his 'extremely disturbing' actions had 'rattled' her sense of identity and left her feeling constantly scared. Keating faces jail after being found guilty earlier this month of two counts of stalking for sending Ms Saper constant messages in which he shared his graphic sexual fantasies including that he would 'go 50 Shades of Grey' on her and wanted to abduct her. 'This was the first time in my life I was scared all the time. I would wake up scared, I would fall asleep scared,' Ms Saper, a former lawyer, told her 100,000 Instagram followers. 'I felt so disempowered, it just rattled my whole sense of identity.' Speaking to the BBC, Ms Saper said: 'It was horrible, disgusting and extremely disturbing. 'The implications of what this has done to me over the last three years don't just go away just because someone's been convicted. 'Getting things to move in the right direction was so hard despite a mountain of evidence. [Speaking out] was the only thing I could think of to take back ownership of the narrative after someone had decided for no reason to uproot my life.' The 39-year-old-Keating went 'from follower to stalker' after becoming obsessed with her posts on Instagram, booking a one way ticket to the tropical Indonesian paradise while warning her to 'get kidnap insurance'. He visited bars and restaurants just metres from her home and continued to message her whilst she was in Bali, telling her 'you're never getting rid of me'. Ms Saper told the court she fled the country because she was so 'terrified' he would find her. In a video about her ordeal, posted at the time, Ms Saper also said she felt she was being 'hunted like prey'. On his return to the UK in March 2023, Keating was arrested by police who found black rope and a tie in his suitcase. Keating told police in an interview that he was not sexually attracted to Ms Saper, but said that 'she had shown an interest in him and there could be something there' between the two. In videos he often referred to the influencer as his 'Spartan Queen'. He continued to stalk Ms Saper between September and November 2024, at which point he lived in Horsham in West Sussex. Keating posted a picture of a plane ticket from London to Bali with the caption 'round 2' on his Instagram in November. He was subsequently arrested. Now, at Portsmouth Crown Court, Hants, he has been found guilty of two counts of stalking involving serious harm or distress following a six day trial. The jury deliberated for just two hours and, when reading the verdict to Keating, Judge Michael Bowes KC said a prison sentence was 'inevitable'. Closing the case, prosecutor Alexandra Bull described Keating as 'indulging' in a 'wilful self delusion' involving a 'one dimensional' version of the influencer as he 'moved from follower to stalker'. 'He began to indulge in wilful self-delusion, all those genuine emotions he felt from following was not enough,' she said. 'The person he started fantasising about was entirely one dimensional, they are a character he has never met... 'It is her job to make people feel better about themselves but that is just one part of Ms Saper. 'When Ms Saper's generic posts were not enough for him he wanted to take it to the next level. What he wanted was her attention on him.' She continued: 'Her job is to appeal to a wider audience and he knows that, this is a wilful delusion. 'Does this justify his behaviour, he provides himself with an excuse, he tries to convince himself Ms Saper is trying to contact him, it is just his fantasy.' The traffic worker, who lived in his sister's garage in Havant, Hants, first contacted Ms Saper on Instagram in July 2022 with a 'weird and creepy' message to which the influencer responded 'dude, why are you following me if you don't like my content'. She blocked Keating on the social media platform after he shared extracts from the erotic S&M novel 50 Shades of Grey. However, he then began bombarding her with videos and messages over email and used another profile to continue viewing her posts, which he believed were secret messages to him. Ms Saper tried to block his emails too but that just sent them to her spam folder. The court was shown over an hour of footage from these videos in which Keating told Ms Saper to get 'kidnap insurance' and that he was going to 'spank' her. He told her she was 'allowing him' to 'run with it' regarding his contact with her, but added: 'Either that, or you're not interested and not watching these videos and I've lost my mind or something.' In a video from December 2022, Keating said: 'You're going to have to reply to me eventually - there's talk about coming to Bali to get you.' In February 2023 he did travel to Bali, posting a picture of the plane he was about to board with the caption 'let the games begin'. Ms Saper was so concerned that she fled to the nearby Southeast Asian country of Laos to put distance between her and Keating. Giving evidence at court, the influencer said she 'didn't think' he would actually make the trip to the tropical island. 'I blocked him on everything and never responded, so that was a pretty clear indication of not wanting contact,' Ms Saper added. 'I was aware that he was talking about coming to Bali, but I didn't think it would actually happen. 'I shared because I wanted my life back, there was nothing I could do staying in hiding,' she said. 'I was sick, I couldn't eat, I was depressed.' In his own evidence Keating had tried to claim the kidnap threats were just 'playful ridiculousness' and that the ordeal had had 'no adverse effect' on Ms Saper. Keating tried to tell the court that because of the Anchorman memes on his Instagram profile there was no way she would take him seriously. He will be sentenced at a later date.
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Moment British stalker tells American travel influencer he wants to go '50 Shades of Grey' on her is shown in court
This is the chilling moment a delusional British stalker told an American travel influencer he wanted to go '50 Shades of Grey' on her in disturbing footage shown to a jury. Rob Keating, 39, was seen in creepy videos he recorded and sent to Instagram star Alexandra Saper in Bali, detailing graphic sexual fantasies and threatening to kidnap her. In one alarming clip, the obsessed loner declared: 'Either you're going to be relationshipped, or kidnapped,' before suggesting she take out 'kidnap insurance' and ominously stating: 'I have a suitcase for you to fit in.' Keating, from West Sussex, was found guilty of threatening to kidnap Ms Saper and two counts of stalking involving serious alarm or distress, following a six-day trial at Portsmouth Crown Court. last week. Jurors took just two hours to convict the stalker, who had flown to Indonesia with rope in his luggage after bombarding the influencer with 'incessant and constant' messages. In the bizarre videos, now released for the first time, Keating can be heard telling Ms Saper he wants to 'punish' her and 'breathe on' her, adding: 'You're going to need a bouncier bed.' The 33-year-old influencer, who runs the popular travel account The Wayfarer with more than 100,000 followers, told the court she fled the island in fear for her life, saying she felt 'hunted like prey.' Keating's obsession began in July 2022, when he contacted Ms Saper on Instagram with what she described as a 'weird and creepy' message. She replied: 'Dude, why are you following me if you don't like my content?' After she blocked him for sharing explicit extracts from the erotic novel 50 Shades of Grey, Keating escalated his behaviour – emailing her dozens of times and creating new profiles to monitor her posts, convinced she was sending him 'secret messages.' In court, prosecutors said Keating had moved 'from follower to stalker', indulging in 'wilful self delusion' and imagining a relationship that never existed. In one clip from August 2022, Keating said he wanted to 'punish' Ms Saper and described sexually aggressive fantasies. A month later, he said: 'I want to go 50 Shades of Grey on you,' claiming he had leftover flights from lockdown that he could use to visit her. In another disturbing video, he told her: 'You're going to have to reply to me eventually – there's talk about coming to Bali to get you.' By December, Keating warned: 'Get insurance… either you're going to be relationshipped, or kidnapped.' He then added: 'You're going to have to prepare yourself for silly jokes and fun… a bouncier bed. That's a bit crude, I don't like that terminology. If that happens, that's going to be fucking fun.' The court heard that Keating had booked a one-way ticket to Bali in February 2023, posting a photo from the plane with the chilling caption: 'Let the games begin.' While in Bali, he visited bars and restaurants just metres from Ms Saper's home. She fled to neighbouring Laos in terror. Giving evidence, the former lawyer described the devastating impact of the stalking, saying: 'I didn't think he would actually make the trip to the tropical island.' 'I blocked him on everything and never responded, so that was a pretty clear indication of not wanting contact,' she told the court. 'I was aware that he was talking about coming to Bali, but I didn't think it would actually happen.' 'I shared because I wanted my life back, there was nothing I could do staying in hiding,' she added. 'I was sick, I couldn't eat, I was depressed.' In total, Keating sent Ms Saper over 30 videos and hundreds of emails between September and November 2024. When he returned to the UK in March 2023, police arrested him and found black rope and a tie in his suitcase. Despite the overwhelming evidence, Keating claimed the threats were 'playful ridiculousness' and insisted that the ordeal had 'no adverse effect' on the influencer. He even told officers that Ms Saper 'had shown an interest in him and there could be something there' between them – despite never having met her. He also tried to argue that memes on his Instagram, including ones from Anchorman, proved his messages shouldn't have been taken seriously. But the jury didn't buy it. Prosecutor Alexandra Bull said Keating had created a 'one dimensional' version of the influencer in his head, becoming increasingly obsessed. He will be sentenced at a later date. In a BBC interview, Ms Saper described the lasting trauma of the ordeal: 'This was the first time in my life I was scared all the time. I would wake up scared, I would fall asleep scared.' 'I felt so disempowered, it just rattled my whole sense of identity,' she added.
BBC News
21-05-2025
- BBC News
Horsham man convicted of stalking American travel influencer
A travel influencer has said she suffered nightmares following her harrowing ordeal when a West Sussex man travelled to Indonesia and threatened her with physical harm and Saper is an American who lives in Bali and posts regularly about travel on her Instagram 33-year-old told the BBC: "This was the first time in my life I was scared all the time. I would wake up scared, I would fall asleep scared."I felt so disempowered, it just rattled my whole sense of identity." Portsmouth Crown Court heard the stalker, Rob Keating, began contacting Ms Saper via Instagram in June 2022. On 14 May Keating, of Old Crawley Road, Faygate, Horsham, was found guilty of two stalking court heard the messages Keating sent were constant and so concerning in nature that Ms Saper blocked him on the after the 39-year-old was blocked on Instagram, Keating contacted Ms Saper via her personal email address, despite never being given her continued his campaign of harassment and sent screenshots of things she had posted on Instagram, demonstrating he had accessed her account from other secret court heard over a six-month period, Ms Saper received hundreds of emails and 30 videos from Keating. 'Horrible and disgusting' In December 2022, Ms Saper received an email from Keating where he threatened to kidnap her. He also sent links to videos he had made with more threats to kidnap and rape her. Keating also sent her a photo of a body in a suitcase, alongside videos of him threatening to do the same to Saper said: "It was horrible, disgusting and extremely disturbing."The court heard Keating sent Ms Saper evidence he had obtained flight tickets and a visa to then sent photos from locations in Bali she frequented and from locations near her address. 'Extreme lengths' The court heard after Ms Saper's friends saw Keating in person near her home, she fled to a friend's address and contacted local police before leaving the country fearing for her safety."When he finally landed in Bali and confirmed he was there, it really hit me that this person was obviously willing to go to extreme lengths to carry out his threat," Ms Saper 6 March 2023, Keating was arrested at Gatwick Airport on suspicion of stalking. However, more than a year later while he remained under investigation, he contacted Ms Saper again. The court heard he posted a video about her and screenshots of flights to Bali with the caption "Round Two" on his own Instagram was further arrested on suspicion of stalking on 11 November 2024 and charged and remanded into custody the following is due to be sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on 25 July. "The implications of what this has done to me over the last three years don't just go away just because someone's been convicted," Ms Saper added it was "difficult for her to get an arrest and to have police call her back to get charges pressed"."Getting things to move in the right direction was so hard despite a mountain of evidence," she Saper said she was speaking out because she felt "disempowered" for so long. "This was the only thing I could think of to take back ownership of the narrative after someone had decided for no reason to uproot my life," she added. Det Insp Katt Green from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said as court proceedings were ongoing, the force could not discuss the investigation in detail."Our enquiries involved liaising with other forces and the logistics of engaging and supporting a victim who was abroad," she added."There was also a prolonged period during 2024 when all parties involved were outside of the UK. "Charges were made in November 2024, which have led to these proceedings." David Naylor, area manager for Victim Support Kent, said stalking was "fixated and obsessive behaviour that is unwanted and repeated". "Some people underestimate the impact of stalking," he said. "It changes every aspect of the victim's life."Mr Naylor added stalking could be carried out by anyone and there was often a risk to an individual's safety."We are seeing increased reporting in stalking because there is better recognition of what stalking is," he said."With online stalking, we don't encourage people to block the stalker because they find ways to find you again." If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story you can visit BBC Action Line
Telegraph
15-05-2025
- Telegraph
Stalker shared Fifty Shades of Grey extracts with travel influencer
A 'delusional' British stalker who share racy extracts from Fifty Shades of Grey with an American travel influencer has been found guilty of threatening to kidnap her. Rob Keating, 39, faces jail after he was convicted of two counts of stalking involving serious harm or distress following a six-day trial at at Portsmouth Crown Court The court heard Keating went 'from follower to stalker' after becoming obsessed with her posts on Instagram, booking a one-way ticket to the tropical Indonesian island of Bali while warning her to 'get kidnap insurance'. He visited bars and restaurants close to her home and continued to message her while she was in Bali, telling her: 'You're never getting rid of me.' Alexandra Saper – a former lawyer who now makes money from her Instagram page The Wayfarer, which has more than 100,000 followers – told the court she fled the country because she was so 'terrified' he would find her. She blocked Keating on the social media platform after he shared extracts from the erotic S&M novel Fifty Shades of Grey. However, he then began bombarding her with videos and messages over email and used another profile to continue viewing her posts, which he believed were secret messages to him. Ms Saper tried to block his emails too but that just sent them to her spam folder. In a video about her ordeal, posted at the time, Ms Saper also said she felt she was being 'hunted like prey'. On his return to the UK in March 2023, Keating was arrested by police who found black rope and a tie in his suitcase. Keating told police in an interview that he was not sexually attracted to Ms Saper, but said that 'she had shown an interest in him and there could be something there' between the two. In videos he often referred to the influencer as his 'Spartan Queen'. He continued to stalk Ms Saper from September to November 2024, when he lived in Horsham, West Sussex. Keating posted a picture of a plane ticket from London to Bali with the caption 'round 2' on Instagram in November. He was subsequently arrested. At the Portsmouth court, the jury deliberated for just two hours and, when reading the guilty verdict to Keating, Judge Michael Bowes KC said a prison sentence was 'inevitable'. Closing the case, Alexandra Bull, prosecuting, described Keating as 'indulging in a wilful self-delusion' involving a 'one-dimensional' version of the influencer as he 'moved from follower to stalker'. 'He began to indulge in wilful self-delusion, all those genuine emotions he felt from following was not enough,' she said. 'The person he started fantasising about was entirely one-dimensional, they are a character he has never met. 'It is her job to make people feel better about themselves but that is just one part of Ms Saper. 'When Ms Saper's generic posts were not enough for him, he wanted to take it to the next level. What he wanted was her attention on him.' Keating, a traffic worker who lived in his sister's garage in Havant, Hants, first contacted Ms Saper on Instagram in July 2022 with a 'weird and creepy' message to which the influencer responded: 'Dude, why are you following me if you don't like my content?' The court was shown over an hour of footage from these videos in which Keating told Ms Saper to get 'kidnap insurance' and that he was going to 'spank' her. He told her she was 'allowing him to run with it' regarding his contact with her, but added: 'Either that, or you're not interested and not watching these videos and I've lost my mind or something.' In a video from December 2022, Keating said: 'You're going to have to reply to me eventually – there's talk about coming to Bali to get you.' In February 2023, he did travel to Bali, posting a picture of the plane he was about to board with the caption 'Let the games begin'. Ms Saper was so concerned that she fled to Laos to put distance between her and Keating. Giving evidence at court, the influencer said she 'didn't think' he would actually make the trip to the tropical island. 'I blocked him on everything and never responded, so that was a pretty clear indication of not wanting contact,' Ms Saper added. 'I was aware that he was talking about coming to Bali, but I didn't think it would actually happen. 'I shared because I wanted my life back, there was nothing I could do staying in hiding,' she said. 'I was sick, I couldn't eat, I was depressed.' In his own evidence, Keating had tried to claim the kidnap threats were just 'playful ridiculousness' and that the ordeal had had 'no adverse effect' on Ms Saper. He tried to tell the court that because of the 'Anchorman' memes on his Instagram profile there was no way she would take him seriously. Keating will be sentenced at a later date.
