Latest news with #stalking
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
I met him once during a job interview and he stalked me relentlessly - now he's being released from prison and I'm terrified he'll kill me
A woman who was relentlessly stalked and harassed by a man she only met once during a job interview has opened up about the terrifying ordeal. Jen, a recruitment consultant from the UK, bravely shared her story in the first episode of To Catch A Stalker, the latest BBC Three documentary series hosted by former Love Island star Zara McDermott. The programme follows Zara, 28, as she meets with victims of stalking and domestic abuse to highlight the devastating and long-lasting impact of these crimes. Jen revealed that her nightmare began in March 2022 when she posted a job advert online. A man, who would later become her stalker, applied for the position and was offered the job following a brief interaction. What followed was a chilling campaign of harassment and sexual text messages leaving Jen in constant fear. She said: 'I started to get texts from him, [saying] "morning. I've just started my day. It's 5am. I'm heading here and I'm gonna be stopping there.' 'And then it started to be pictures as if he was texting his best friend. I didn't respond to them. And then, they started to get a little bit personal. 'Then the texts were coming through at eight, nine, ten o'clock at night, and I was not responding to anything. But then I'd get five or six more messages. And I was waking up to loads of messages in the middle of the night.' The man would attempt to insert himself into Jen's daily life by repeatedly sending her his location and urging her to meet him, behaving as though they were in a relationship, despite having met only once. His delusional fixation quickly escalated and he sent her nude pictures of himself, leaving Jen feeling trapped and constantly on edge. He soon began sending her whispering voice messages, which deeply unnerved her and added to her growing sense of fear. One voice note said: 'My love for you is in my brain it's not in my manhood. I am the guy you are looking for, you are just not recognising it. I want you so bad, really bad.' Describing these messages, Jen said: 'The whispering was so creepy. Like, it's scary. It was then I knew that he was making porn searches for people that looked like me. I was scared of him attacking me.' Just five days after his initial text to Jen, his tone shifted dramatically. He began sending her threatening voice messages, laced with fury and intimidation. One angry voice note said: 'A young capable guy who is in love with you and you threw me overboard, for who? Who are those people, none of them care for you.' Jen went to the police on numerous occasions, armed with a substantial amount of evidence documenting the harassment. The man was arrested four times and served three short prison sentences, but each time he was released, allowing the terrifying cycle to continue. He is currently in prison, where he has spent the last eight months, but is due for release in the next few weeks. Jen now lives in constant fear that the moment he is released, he will come straight to find her. She said he has shown no respect for legal boundaries in the past. 'It's when he's coming out, it's really, really stressful,' she said. 'On one of the occasions when he came out of prison, he rang me within two hours of being released. 'So, he came straight out of prison, went straight into a shop, bought a phone and rang me. 'And he was like, 'hi baby, it's me.' When he's coming out, he's going to get in the car and he's gonna come straight here. 'He wants to break me. He said that in his interviews to the police. So I'm broken. 'The only way it may end, is if it was him or me. So, it's either me that disappears or he disappears and he's not going anywhere.' Jen's sister, Sam, says she lives in constant fear for her sibling's safety. She admits she's terrified of what could happen when he's released in a few weeks. Sam said: 'If he's out and he's free to roam, it doesn't matter to him. 'The restraining orders, none of it means anything, it doesn't register. I do think that she's in massive danger. Massive amounts of danger.' Sam revealed that her sister is no longer eating or sleeping properly due to the constant fear she lives in. Although her doctor has prescribed anti-anxiety medication and sleeping pills, Jen is too afraid to take them, worried she needs to stay alert in case the man shows up at her door. Through tears, Sam said: 'I honestly think, without intervention, he'll kill her. He won't let her go. If he gets her, he will never let her go.' Jen's story is just one of many featured in the eye-opening series, which aims to raise awareness about stalking, as well as push for greater protections and support for victims. A 'heartbroken' Zara fought back tears when she heard the harrowing account of another woman's stalking ordeal at the hands of her ex-partner. The second episode sees Zara sit down with an anonymous woman who recounted how her ex-partner stalked her after she ended the relationship. She recalled how at the start he was 'very charming, caring, I didn't even imagine there was another side to him'. However, he would make her video call him '24 hours a day, every day, morning until night'. When the woman ended the relationship things took a terrifying turn. 'The continuous harassment, being outside of my house every other day, he would cry his eyes out and make me feel bad,' she recalled. Zara asked: 'Was he calling you and texting you?' 'He would call me more than 500 times a day and I would literally chuck my phone in some corner of my house,' the woman replied. She appeared to get emotional as she described how 'he made me hate myself for being in that situation'. The woman gestured a line across her neck with her hands as she recalled what he would do outside her house, seeming to infer he was saying he would harm her. 'He didn't leave outside of my house for another five, six hours. I was terrified,' she added. Zara replied: 'That breaks my heart, hearing that.' The woman submitted video, calls and text messages to the police and revealed she would be giving a witness statement at court against him. Zara asked the woman, 'How are you feeling through this?' 'Like I'm rubbish,' she replied, as Zara held her hand. The reality star looked tearful as she continued to listen to the woman and said: 'You did not deserve any of that, you know that?' After wrapping up filming for the stalking documentary in March, Zara admitted it had been one of her 'most emotional' yet, as she praised the brave women who appeared in the programme and voiced her hope that it would open up further conversations about the issue.
News.com.au
14 hours ago
- News.com.au
Shock alleged find after man accused of stalking radio queen
A man charged with stalking radio queen Jackie O Henderson was found outside her Sydney home with a bolt in a sock, a court has been told. David Gourlay, 38, was arrested in Sydney's east earlier this month after a police investigation into allegations he bombarded her with hundreds of Instagram messages. Police began an investigation after receiving a complaint from Ms Henderson on July 3. The following day Mr Gourlay was arrested while sitting on a bench outside her home, and police allege when they searched his satchel they found a 10-15cm bolt inside a sock. Waverley Local Court was told on Monday police feared that the improvised weapon was to be used against Ms Henderson. Mr Gourlay on Monday appeared via video link from prison, where he has been held on remand since his arrest, as he made an application to be freed on bail. The court was told that Mr Gourlay sent the KIIS FM star 'hundreds if not thousands' of messages via social media from January until his arrest earlier this month. One of the charges relates to an occasion when Mr Gourlay allegedly had flowers delivered to Ms Henderson's home. His solicitor Trudie Cameron told the court some of the messages were sexual in nature and 'troubling', however she said at no time was he aggressive or did he express dissatisfaction with Ms Henderson. He is facing four counts of stalk/intimidate and one count each of using a carriage service to menace/harass, armed with intention to commit indictable offence and use offensive weapon to commit indictable offence. He entered not guilty pleas to all charges at Monday's hearing. When he was arrested, Mr Gourlay was taken to a mental health facility before he was released into the custody of police and was charged. The court was told Mr Gourlay has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was unmedicated at the time. Ms Cameron proposed bail conditions amounting to house arrest for Mr Gourlay to live with his partner. Magistrate Michael Barko told the court the alleged messages were of a 'sexual, graphic nature' and would have raised 'great concern' for Ms Henderson. The court also heard that Mr Gourlay had convictions for violence offences including assault and was on a community corrections order at the time of the alleged offending. Mr Barko described the allegations as 'disturbing' and consistent with someone suffering a serious untreated mental health condition. He said it appeared Mr Gourlay was 'besotted and obsessed, one might say in an unremitting matter' with Ms Henderson. He refused to grant Mr Gourlay bail because he did not have a proposed mental health treatment plan or regime which would address his serious mental health problems.
The Sun
a day ago
- The Sun
A ‘spam' email sparked a horrific four-year stalking ordeal – I feared they'd kill me after receiving a sinister package
READING the email that had just landed in her inbox, Hannah Mossman Moore felt her blood run cold. She tried telling herself that it was meaningless spam - but soon, more and more messages arrived, increasingly aggressive and sinister. 5 5 The first email read: 'Dear Miss Mossman Moore, we will now take control of your online reputation." It was from an address purporting to be an online reputation management company. More messages flooded Hannah's inbox, claiming 'all hell' would break loose if she didn't pay an unspecified amount of money. Though Hannah didn't know it then, this was only the beginning. Over the next four years, she would be subjected to a horrific ordeal, during which she was stalked both online and in real life, across continents and time zones, by someone seemingly determined to ruin her life. 'You have this creep behind a screen appearing to be this powerful monster,' Hannah tells Fabulous. 'It was terrifying. I didn't feel safe walking down the street, and my family didn't feel safe. It drives you to a very dark place. 'It felt like I was at the centre of an incredibly intricate web, struggling to break free. And every time I moved, I just became more entangled.' Now, Hannah is sharing her story in Stalked, a new 10-part BBC Sounds podcast that attempts to uncover whether a chance encounter resulted in an unrelenting and escalating campaign of abuse. Hannah was just 23, fresh out of Edinburgh University and interning at a jewellery start-up, when she met Kin Hung, a 40-something Hong Kong national, at London Fashion Week on September 20, 2015. 'I was working there, trying to get the brand's jewellery into stores in Tokyo and Seoul,' she explains. I was stalked by my SAS hero boyfriend's ex...I thought I was going to die 'He told me he was well-connected in the Asian fashion market and that he could help. He took my email address.' Soon, Kin was emailing her every day. The volume of messages was overwhelming, I was blinded to the fact I was being groomed. 'He was charming and charismatic, and he knew about business and fashion, which I didn't. "I was naive and trusting,' Hannah says. 'I thought he was gay, so I didn't think he was any threat. I just thought I had a friend and mentor.' Kin often invited her to exclusive events, but the combination of only earning an intern's salary and her large workload meant Hannah rarely took up his offers. Instead, they met for the occasional coffee when Kin was in London for work. Then, in April 2016, she received a message from his email address, claiming to be from his girlfriend, followed by another claiming to be from his boyfriend, and a third, claiming to be from his 'ladyboy' lover. When she asked Kin about it, he insisted he was single and said his email account had been hacked. 'What we realised in the course of making the podcast was that it was likely that it was Kin's actual girlfriend on his account, wondering who I was and what the hell was going on,' explains Hannah. 'We believe that Kin, realising he had to cover things up, sent emails from 'the boyfriend' and 'the ladyboy' to make it look as insane as possible, so he could tell me it was a hack.' After that, everything returned to normal, and the pair continued to email daily. 'The volume of messages was overwhelming,' she says. 'I was blinded to the fact I was being groomed.' In December 2017, Kin invited Hannah to Florida to attend the glamorous Art Basel international art fair and stay with him at his crash pad in Naples, Florida. 'I remember her telling me about the trip and feeling uncomfortable,' said Hannah's former stepmum and Stalked co-host Carole Cadwalladr in the podcast. 'He was an older guy, and Hannah was very young.' Hannah, however, had no reservations. 'I'd known him for two years by that point, and I thought I knew him,' she says. 'Everyone on my flight was talking about Art Basel. It was so exciting. Then I went straight from my flight to a party at Soho Beach House with Kin.' The next day, while the pair recovered in his Florida house, Hannah's phone began to buzz with message after message from Kin's girlfriend, warning that he was 'hiding his whole real life' from her. Again, Kin claimed it was hackers. But now, Hannah wasn't so sure. I felt scared and controlled – each message was more threatening than the last Shortly afterwards, an argument developed between them. Panicked and desperate to leave, Hannah called her brother, who booked her a hotel in Miami and stayed on the phone until she was in a taxi. The next day, she caught the first available flight back to London, fending off a flurry of messages. 'Kin claimed he'd deliberately created an argument between us so 'the hackers' would think we were no longer friends and leave me alone,' she says. However, Hannah had seen a side to Kin's personality that frightened her, and after her inbox began to fill up with email after email from him, she sent a one-line reply: 'Leave me alone and let me get on with my life.' A few days later, another email landed in her inbox, this time, apparently from an online reputation company. ' I felt scared and controlled, ' recalls Hannah. 'Each message felt more threatening than the last, and soon I was getting five messages a day.' As the intimidation moved offline, Hannah, who'd had her suspicions that Kin was responsible, was now convinced. 'I began getting parcels and letters to my flat – things like a printout of an olive branch, nail polish, and a packet of Werther's Original sweets that was opened but stapled along the seal. 5 "I wondered: 'Is this person trying to kill me?' because I didn't know if they were poisoned,' she remembers. 'They were coming so often that I had a routine where I would put gloves on and carry them to the bin outside. "Sometimes I wouldn't even open them. The level of communication with who I believed to be Kin was always high, and when I cut him out of my life, it remained high – but got more and more negative.' What to do if you are being stalked By Emma Kenny, true crime physiologist Whether the signals are subtle or glaring, trust your instincts. Keep records of suspicious incidents, inform people you trust, and don't hesitate to reach out for professional and legal help if you believe you're in danger. Your safety is paramount, no one has the right to make you feel unsafe in your own life. Stalking is illegal. If you think you are in danger or being stalked, report it to the police immediately - you have a right to feel safe in your home and workplace. Call 999 if you or someone else is in immediate danger. You can get advice from the National Stalking Helpline. National Stalking Helpline Telephone: 0808 802 0300 Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4pm (except Wednesday 9:30am to 8pm) National Stalking Helpline Find out about call charges In March 2018, Hannah moved back in with her dad, but the packages followed her there. Then, WhatsApp groups started being created by someone posing as her. 'They were set up by a number in my name and the status was 'Karma', meaning payback,' explains Hannah. 'It would be my name, my picture, and all my friends and family were added, and it would start posting terrible things that I was supposedly doing, like avoiding tax. ' Kin even popped up in these chats, defending Hannah from the accusations and threatening the hackers if they didn't leave her alone. The 'fake Hannah' also targeted the jewellery start-up she had worked for, accusing them of tax evasion, but her previous employers realised the emails were out of character and forwarded them to a lawyer. 'Behaviour escalates in line with the stalker's emotional state,' says Dr Alan Underwood, a clinical psychologist at Queen Mary University of London, who specialises in stalking threat assessment. 'I've seen cases where individuals have escalated behaviour with the intent that the person would seek them out to solve the problem or get support from them. "This allows them to feel 'connected' to the person they have targeted.' By the end of March 2018, Hannah was at breaking point. 'The stalking had completely worn me down, both mentally and physically. 'I was constantly anxious, always looking over my shoulder, and unable to sleep. It felt like I was losing parts of myself just trying to stay safe,' she says. She went to the police armed with as much evidence as she could gather, and officers attempted to arrest Kin, but could not locate him. They always managed to find out my new numbers, email addresses and social media accounts. Meanwhile, the stalking continued until, in August 2019, Hannah jumped at the offer to work in Colombo, Sri Lanka, thinking it would offer her a fresh start. She was wrong. 'In August 2019, I posted a picture of my new boyfriend, who I'd met through a mutual friend in Sri Lanka, on social media and he started receiving emails telling him what a diseased, disgusting person I was,' says Hannah. Another email to her boyfriend included a rape fantasy. 'They always managed to find out my new numbers, email addresses, and social media accounts,' adds Hannah. At the same time, she began receiving up to five emails a day from an anonymous account called Premium Escorts, informing her she was now on their books. People she was in contact with – including work contacts – began getting emails from the bogus agency, which claimed to be selling her sexual services and contained fake reviews from her former 'clients'. She was bombarded with emails addressed to 'Hooker Hani', with pornographic images attached, as well as language that implied the sender was watching her every move. One included an image of Hannah at a Halloween party on a beach, cropped into her chest. 'That picture was creepy because it didn't match any of the event pictures on the organisers' website. I don't know where he got that from,' says Hannah. Despite the continuing abuse, police were unable to confirm that all the emails had come from the same source, and the case was officially closed on January 30, 2020. Hannah returned to the UK four months later – and again, the stalking followed her. Changing email addresses, passwords and phone numbers eight times in two years had no effect. I didn't know what was going to happen next. My phone was ringing every second. I would answer, and it would go dead. It was getting worse and worse, and it followed me wherever I went. I couldn't get away from it. 'I didn't know what was going to happen next,' she says. 'My phone was ringing every second. I would answer, and it would go dead. "It was getting worse and worse, and it followed me wherever I went. I couldn't get away from it. "It was coming from so many different angles.' Then, in 2021, Hannah and Carole exchanged emails discussing the possibility of making a podcast about her ordeal. 'Within a month, everything just stopped. Emails, messages, calls. . . everything,' says Hannah, who is convinced this is proof that her emails were being read. 'I felt like I could finally breathe again, but I was still on edge waiting for something else to happen, almost suspicious that the calm wouldn't last.' In the course of making Stalked, a team of experts were called on to analyse all the emails Hannah was sent, in the hope they could reveal if Kin was solely responsible. Forensic linguists used by the FBI found that certain words and phrases in emails written by Kin also appeared in emails from her stalker. Ethical data scientists looked at the technical evidence and concluded that all the emails were coordinated from a single source – a source Hannah believes was Kin, whose current whereabouts are unknown. He has remained silent throughout the podcast run, speaking only through lawyers, strongly denying stalking Hannah and calling the podcast's allegations 'false and without foundation'. 'Right now, I'm just really loving being free from all of this,' says Hannah, who is still trying to make sense of what happened. 'I've been in survival mode for the last 10 years, and now I'm living life again. I also feel a big responsibility to use my voice and platform to help all the women who are in the shadows right now. "That was me for so long, and I didn't know where to turn,' she says. 'I still have days where I feel scared. It's hard to fully relax after living in fear for so long. "The emotional impact definitely doesn't disappear overnight. But, mostly, I feel more powerful now. I know I have a purpose.' Stalked is available on BBC Sounds now.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
Teacher jailed after stalking ex-boyfriend who she couldn't get over
A fourth grade Ohio school teacher and cheerleading coach sentenced to a week in jail for stalking an ex-boyfriend who moved on with a new partner. Hannah Freeman, 27, was seen sobbing during an explosive courtroom exchange as she was sentenced for the bad break-up behavior. Freeman was placed on administrative leave from North Ridgeville Schools district, located about 25 miles west of Cleveland, last year after being charged with several felony counts including menacing by stalking, trespass, theft, identity fraud, and theft of drugs. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Westlake Police Department claimed Freeman broke into her ex-partner's car twice and followed him to work at least 33 times on 19 different days over the course of one month, according to WKYC. Freeman took a plea deal on the lesser charges and told Cuyahoga County Judge David Matia she had learned her lesson. She said: 'I regret the incident. I definitely acted out of emotion and I regret that decision that I made that night. 'I will take steps that are necessary to move on from this incident and you will not see me back here again.' However, the judge was not convinced and sentenced Freeman to 18 months of probation, with the first seven days to be served at the county jail. Matia said: 'This is frankly a bizarre breakup between two professionals. The presentencing investigation does not paint a pretty picture of your behavior Ms Freeman. 'You should have known that was over. It was my understanding that the victim had someone else in his life.' Freeman's attorney and the judge then got into a spat over the sentencing, with her lawyer arguing his sentence was not in the agreed upon plea deal. The judge said: 'You didn't agree with me.' In June, Freeman pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, obstructing official business, and possessing criminal tools. The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office said they made the agreement because Freeman had no prior criminal history and they had consulted with her ex-boyfriend. Matia argued that the attorney did not meet with him about the plea agreement before sentencing, which Freeman's lawyer claimed was because the judge was not available during that time. The judge fired back: 'I'm offended that you would make the insinuation here that I don't work enough. Your bad practice is not my problem.' Freeman sobbed in her lawyers arms before collecting her things to be hauled off to the county jail. Police body camera footage showed Freeman being arrested after her ex reported that she stole two backpacks from his car. Two computers and his wallet were in the bags, making the estimated value of the stolen items $1,100. Freeman's ex told police that she would 'frequent his place of work as well as his residence, causing stress and mental anguish.' After her arrest, Freeman was placed on administrative leave by the school districted, reported WOIO. At the time North Ridgeville City Schools said: 'This matter does not pertain directly to school activities, and as such, the district will not be issuing additional statements at this time. 'However, North Ridgeville City Schools is committed to cooperating fully with law enforcement as needed to support a thorough and fair resolution.'
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Daily Mail
Top barrister 'felt sick' when her stalker sent her a picture of his naked bottom in terrifying five-year campaign
A top barrister said she 'felt sick' when her stalker sent her a picture of his naked bottom during a five-year campaign of terror. Robert McKenna, 59, has admitted stalking Anneliese Day KC, between June 1, 2020, and April 6, 2025. McKenna sent Ms Day a photo of his naked buttock, contacted her clerk at her chambers and left a Valentine's Day card outside her chambers. In a victim impact statement Ms Day said: 'At the beginning I found the defendant's actions an annoyance. 'After he sent me the photo of the bare buttock I felt sick. 'The suspect made repeated calls to my workplace to ask others where I am which left me even more concerned. 'He started ringing me, often when I was alone in a hotel. I couldn't sleep, I felt so afraid. 'Every time I walk around outside I feel worried. 'I started to worry about things I never worried about, such as getting in a taxi or catching public transport, because I worried that he might be driving the taxi. 'I am concerned for the safety of my family.' McKenna has past convictions for harassment in 2000 and 2007, the court heard. Ms Day took silk in 2012 and has a number of coveted awards, including The Lawyer's 'Barrister of the Year' and 'Silk of the Year' at Legal 500's UK Bar Awards. She has also been identified as one of the 500 most influential people in the UK by Debretts and as a 'good leader for the 21st century'. Ms Day is based at Fountain Court Chambers and a blog describes her as 'a leading lawyer of her generation' and 'a ruthlessly brilliant advocate'. The court heard McKenna gained access to Ms Day's private Instagram account to send her messages. In one he wrote: 'This is the best image of 2020. You are truly sexy'. McKenna was committed to Southwark Crown Court for sentencing on a date to be fixed. Magistrate Jonathan Saunders said: 'We've decided that we don't have the powers to sentence you today. It will need to be sent to the crown court for sentence. That will be Southwark Crown Court on a date to be arranged.' He was bailed on condition he does not contact Ms Day and does not enter the M25.
