- 7/1/2025
Category
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TVTranscript
00:01Stalking is a growing crime we're hearing about more and more,
00:04but honestly, some of the stories in the news and online
00:07are truly terrifying.
00:09It's a complex crime of psychological terror,
00:12which leaves its victims feeling unsafe and in fear.
00:16I did get to a point where I was going to sleep with a kitchen knife.
00:20Everyone enables the behaviour
00:22and says it's not a big deal, and it is.
00:25And can escalate to physical harm and even murder.
00:31I said, if you don't help me, he is going to kill me.
00:34He won't let her go without intervention. He'll kill her.
00:36I put out a post to my followers
00:38asking if anyone was experiencing being stalked.
00:41Some of the women who responded
00:43have agreed to let me into their lives
00:45and share how it's been affecting them.
00:48I am the guy you're looking for.
00:50We're just so bad.
00:51How did you feel when you started getting these
00:54intense messages through?
00:56Violated.
00:57Live you're a fat slut.
00:59Live you're a whore.
01:00These are ongoing, active cases.
01:03I'd have to go off of my balcony.
01:06Sorry, I couldn't do that.
01:08So I can't reveal names or locations
01:10that could put them at risk.
01:12What's making you feel upset?
01:14I'm getting bombarded with phone calls.
01:16I want to try and understand what it's like to be stalked.
01:20Describe to me, though, that feeling of constantly being watched.
01:23I'm on highlight.
01:24My whole body's shaking.
01:26Whether enough is being done to support victims.
01:29His entire life revolves around harassing this victim.
01:33You've been stalking her again. I'm arresting you.
01:35And understand the long-term impact of stalking.
01:39What should I do if I see anything outside?
01:42You mean 999, my house is flagged.
01:45I can't exist while someone wants to hunt me down.
01:56There is nobody else who loves you.
01:58I am.
01:59I am the guy you're looking for.
02:01I'm suffering.
02:02I don't sleep.
02:04I'm thinking about you all the time.
02:06You're the only thing that I have in my brain.
02:09That's love, my dear.
02:10I'm meeting Jen, whose stalker is a complete stranger.
02:17He's been fixated on her for over three years
02:20after they crossed paths once through work.
02:25He's followed her to work and bombarded her
02:27with hundreds of unwanted, often explicit messages.
02:31He has been convicted of stalking and sent to prison three times now,
02:35and he's about to be released.
02:37I've woke up in the middle of the night, just panicked.
02:40I feel helpless.
02:42I just feel so terrified.
02:45What if he gets into my house and there's nothing between us?
02:52Hopefully we can make it into the property without anyone noticing or seeing us.
02:58Hi, Anne.
02:59Hi there.
03:00Nice to meet you.
03:01How are you doing?
03:02Nice to meet you.
03:03How are you doing?
03:04How are you feeling about today?
03:06I'm going to make sure I don't cry.
03:08No, it's not.
03:09Honestly, it's not a problem to be emotional.
03:17So, I'll take a seat.
03:19So, I just want to say, first of all, thank you so much,
03:22because I know that sharing your story is hard for you, but...
03:26How did this all begin, Jen?
03:28March 2022.
03:29I was a recruitment consultant, and I just put an advert out.
03:32I gave him his application, just like everybody else.
03:35He got offered the role.
03:37From there, he started to get the texts of...
03:41Morning.
03:42I've just started my day.
03:44It's 5am.
03:45I'm heading here, and I'm going to be stopping there.
03:49And then it started to be pictures, as if he was texting his best friend.
03:53And I didn't respond to them.
03:56And then they started to get a little bit personal.
03:59Then the texts were coming through at 8, 9, 10 o'clock at night,
04:04and I was not responding to anything.
04:06But then I'd get five or six more messages.
04:08Wow.
04:09And I was waking up to loads of messages in the middle of the night.
04:14Still in Leicester, hoping you will appear from somewhere.
04:17There is parking just behind the hotel.
04:20Come to me, honey.
04:21I am not leaving without seeing you tonight.
04:23I am here, full of love for you, hardly sleeping night by night.
04:28It was a Saturday.
04:30I got a text on my personal number.
04:35Oh, my goodness.
04:36I want your hair falling through my face.
04:38I want to kiss you on your closed eyes.
04:40I want to gently touch your nose with mine,
04:42running my fingers gently over the curves of your body.
04:45I want to sink into your eyes like into the well of life.
04:55How did you feel when you started getting these really quite intense messages through?
05:03Disgusting.
05:04Violated.
05:05He sent me a picture to my work phone, naked.
05:09It was one of the creepiest poses I've ever seen in my life in pictures,
05:12to be really honest.
05:13He was standing, erm, completely naked at the vanity
05:19and just leaning over and took a picture.
05:22And that was disgusting.
05:24That got sent straight to the police.
05:26It's a stranger.
05:27Yeah.
05:28Someone who you met once in passing through work.
05:33I think that's what makes it the most scary.
05:35Yeah.
05:36My love for you is in my brain, is not in my menhood.
05:40I am the guy you're looking for.
05:42Are you just not recognising it?
05:44Oh, you're so bad.
05:47Really bad.
05:48The whispering was so creepy.
05:51Like, it was scary.
05:53It was when I knew that he was making porn searches for people that looked like me.
06:00Wow.
06:01I was scared of him attacking me.
06:04I mean, this is like...
06:06So now we're only, you know, five days after those first messages and he's starting to get angry now.
06:13Yeah.
06:14Yeah.
06:15Young, capable, intelligent guy who is in love with you and he threw me overboard.
06:19From who?
06:20Who are those people?
06:22None of them care for you.
06:24None of them.
06:25I'm going to get a tissue.
06:27Yeah, of course you can.
06:28It's the way that he says nobody will love you like me and it just makes me feel angry that
06:37somebody thinks they can say nobody else will love you like me and it's, you're a stranger.
06:42I'm just going to get a tissue.
06:45Yeah, go for it.
06:46I'm really shocked how quickly someone can become obsessive.
06:58Are you okay?
06:59Yeah, yeah.
07:01How many times has he been arrested?
07:03I think it must have been about four and then been to prison three times.
07:08Oh my goodness.
07:09On my route home, I saw him parked up at the travel lodge, which is on this video here.
07:15Behind this sign I hid away and he's parked there.
07:18There's traffic lights there and everyone stops here.
07:20He was looking into every car as they stopped.
07:23Oh my God.
07:24I can't believe he was actually like sitting in his car waiting for you to drive past.
07:29I saw him on that route twice looking for me.
07:32How long has he been in prison for?
07:34Eight months.
07:35He's pretty much served it now because he'd already served so much on remand.
07:40How has him being in prison made you feel?
07:43When he's in prison, I feel safer.
07:47Life really does relax.
07:50And if he's in there long enough, I really do feel a lot more confident.
07:54When he's coming out, it's really, really stressful.
07:58On one of the occasions when he came out of prison, he rang me within two hours of being released.
08:04So he came straight out of prison, went straight into a shop, bought a phone and rang me.
08:08He was like, hi baby, it's me.
08:10When he's coming out, he's going to get in the car and he's going to come straight here.
08:15You'll get released from prison, you'll find yourself back at square one again.
08:18He wants to break me. He said that in his interviews to the police, so I'm broken.
08:23The only way it may end, if it was him or me.
08:28So it's either me that disappears or he disappears and he's not going anywhere.
08:37Jen's story is probably one of the most shocking scenarios that I've ever heard.
08:43This is a man who has dedicated the last few years of his life to trying to find her and hunt her down.
08:53I don't know how she sleeps at night. I would be so scared.
08:56She's clock watching now.
08:58She's counting down the minutes until he comes out and what's he going to do?
09:06Jen's stalker is a complete stranger who she only met once.
09:10In most stalking cases, victims are targeted by someone they know.
09:16The police in the UK define stalking as a criminal act
09:19recognised as behaviour that is fixated, unwanted, obsessive and repeated.
09:26Three quarters of stalking cases are from an ex-partner, often triggered by a breakup.
09:33I know what days you work. I've taken a photo of your hours.
09:36I can turn to the shop whenever I want.
09:38I promise I'll be turning up every day.
09:42I promise you, you'll be happy to see me.
09:5020-year-old Isabel reported her ex to the police for following her to work, on nights out and for making violent threats.
09:57After an initial arrest, the case has been dropped due to lack of evidence.
10:03She is being supported by a charity who helped her get a non-monestation order from the civil court.
10:08Isabel's moved away from friends and family to escape him, but believes he's found her location.
10:18She's been told by her ex-partner that he can see into her flat.
10:22Just the constant fear and anxiety of not knowing if you're being watched, to be followed around, to hear that he's stood in an alleyway that goes past my house and I still have to live here every day.
10:34Like, he could be there late at night, he could be there early in the morning. Like, I never thought it would happen to me.
10:43To avoid bringing any extra attention to the address, we're keeping our cameras hidden.
10:48Hiya. Hi! How are you? Lovely to meet you.
10:55Thank you. You too.
10:56Is it ready to go through here? Yeah, it's fine.
11:00Why are you having to leave here then?
11:02It's just been marked as unsafe.
11:04It's first floor, but it's not hard to get up and get into a window if you wanted to.
11:10Paragon, the domestic abuse, stalking and harassment team, they just want us in a house where we can have alarms, extra doors,
11:17extra locks on the doors, cameras.
11:22There's an alleyway and you can see directly into the flat.
11:25He has been down there and seen it through here.
11:28It's literally just up from that yellow box.
11:30Is it just behind the trees?
11:33Yeah.
11:34Every time I went out, he would appear.
11:37It's hard because, obviously, you're on social media.
11:40He was using one of my friends' accounts to see where we are.
11:44I've been out with one of my friends.
11:46And I had a specific top.
11:48And he was like, that was the top you were wearing on this date, at this time, at this place.
11:52He could, like, pinpoint specific items of clothing I was wearing, what times I was where, who I was with, where I was.
11:58It was actually quite scary.
12:00He was wearing a blue lingerie top now.
12:02Love, I know things you would never think I know.
12:05What were the allegations that you made against him?
12:08It was a really toxic relationship.
12:11He would say that he could come through my front door and beat me up if he wanted to.
12:16But luckily for me, he doesn't want to.
12:18He was posting photos of me and him on social media months after we'd split up.
12:23Like, I think, trying to keep up that we were still together.
12:27Really?
12:28Yeah.
12:29He'd gone out and bought my initial, which he then put on a necklace to wear around his neck.
12:34All the gifts that he would send to the house when we'd split up.
12:37Letters through the door.
12:38Like, I had a three-page letter sent through my door one time just saying that he missed me.
12:43He missed, like, the smell of me.
12:45This was the letter.
12:47I will fight for your love.
12:49I can't imagine life without you.
12:51It scares me to death.
12:52I miss everything about you.
12:54I miss your morning breath, your touch, your lips against mine.
12:57I miss holding you.
12:59I miss smelling you in the sheets.
13:00I cannot get you out of my head and wholeheartedly believe I will never fall out of love with you.
13:05It was a really strange letter.
13:06It made me really uncomfortable to read it.
13:09I quit my job, so I went and worked at a different place.
13:11He would show up there, sit in his car where I was waiting for my mum to pick me up just to make sure that I wasn't meeting another man or that nobody else was picking me up.
13:20How much faith do you have in the police at this point?
13:24None.
13:25None at all.
13:26I wouldn't even want to call them if I'd seen him out in the alleyway because they just wouldn't do anything.
13:33I had so much hope that they would help me.
13:35They were calling me all the time like, we're investigating this now, we're investigating that now.
13:39And then one day the main officer on the case went away and then the next it was NFA'd.
13:44They just dropped it all like it was nothing.
13:46The first thing I said when I reported it over the phone to this officer, I said, if you don't help me, he is going to kill me.
13:55My family think it, my friends think it, everybody has told me something is going to happen to you.
13:59Oh, wow.
14:08I've moved five times now.
14:09Five times?
14:10Yeah, trying to get away from him.
14:12In a lot of ways that you have to change your life, you want to be able to live like a normal girl in her twenties.
14:22It's not a nice way to live.
14:24I put myself in hospital a couple of days ago.
14:27I started getting chest pains, thinking that it was something serious and it was a panic attack.
14:34And that is just solely living here.
14:38Yeah.
14:39He knows what he's done and he knows he's gotten away with it.
14:44So I don't know what he's going to try to do next.
14:46But living in here still, it's just like waiting for something to happen.
14:56I want to stay for the evening to understand how she feels alone at night in her flat.
15:01In addition to alarms and privacy film for the windows, the charity have made a safety plan in case he turns up.
15:12Fun?
15:14I'll use the scissors, don't you worry.
15:16It's a good idea to be fair.
15:18I think there's so much easier.
15:19I cut loads of things with scissors.
15:20Bacon.
15:21Cutting.
15:22Cheese.
15:23Cheese?
15:24Yeah.
15:25Meteorated.
15:26There you go.
15:27So you mentioned before you needed a safety plan.
15:30Can you talk me through what that is?
15:32I'd have to go off of my balcony onto the roof of the car park and then onto the floor.
15:38Go either onto the road and flag down a car or come back into the building and get a neighbour or flag down a person.
15:46I wouldn't be able to take my son with me.
15:49I can't jump off the roof of a car park with a one-year-old.
15:52Right, so I'm going to try this safety plan.
15:56Oh, situation.
15:58So you've got to get yourself down here and then you'd have to...
16:02Sorry, I couldn't do that.
16:04I mean, maybe if I'm, like, in a lot of stress I could, but...
16:08Yeah.
16:09And then if you got up here from down there, that window just at the edge of that is my son's window.
16:22So if you're not coming in here and breaking in here, you can go and get into his bedroom.
16:27Oh, my God.
16:29That is just...
16:31And how...
16:33If you had your little boy in your arms, I mean, I don't know how...
16:36It would hurt him a lot more than it would hurt me.
16:39I mean, well...
16:41It's not really much...
16:43It feels a bit more like an unsafety plan than anything.
16:45Yeah.
16:54This house is a stalker's dream.
16:56I can't even imagine being Isabel.
16:58I'd be so unsettled every single day.
17:00Isabel's situation isn't unusual.
17:03Due to high evidence thresholds required by the CPS, only 6% of stalking reported to the police ends up in a charge.
17:15Only 1.4% results in a conviction.
17:19But even when victims do secure a conviction, this isn't always the end of the story.
17:25I'm going back to see Jen.
17:31She's been on edge since she got the news that her stalker is due to be released.
17:37The police officer assigned to her case is here to prepare her in case her worst fear comes true and he finds her.
17:48She's allowed us to sit in.
17:50Okay.
17:51We're at the door now.
17:53Hi, Jen.
17:54Hey, Zora.
17:55How are you?
17:56We've just got the camera inside the bag.
17:57Do you want me to take it out?
17:58Yeah.
17:59No, that's fine.
18:00Hey, Josh.
18:02So this is Zora.
18:03Hi.
18:04Nice to meet you.
18:05How are you?
18:06How are you?
18:07Yeah, really good.
18:09You're here now, which means there's something about to happen.
18:11And it's always the case a couple of weeks before it does.
18:13Yeah.
18:14So the reason that we're here today, the general term that you use for it is safeguarding.
18:19Yeah.
18:20There are some kind of quite heavy things that we need to talk about.
18:24Oh, why am I going to start crying now?
18:26Is he coming in the next week or two or are we looking further in the future?
18:30It's due to end at the end of July.
18:32So he'll be released with conditions during that period.
18:36He'll be monitored very closely.
18:38So there'd be things like tagging.
18:40So you could see his location because he was a truck driver.
18:44There was a stipulation to say that if he was traveling through Leicestershire for work,
18:49he was able to do that.
18:50So he's still allowed.
18:52It was very clear in the stipulation that, albeit he could travel through and make deliveries,
18:57he cannot get out of his cab.
18:59Is this man not dangerous enough to be able to say you cannot go anywhere near her?
19:06What I would want to try and avoid is I can't drive now because of Jennifer.
19:11Now I've got to do something about that.
19:13Mm-hmm.
19:14The next thing we need to talk about is an exit strategy about the worst case scenario.
19:20Be really, really tough to talk about, but there's a reason why we do it.
19:26If there's ever the time where he does manage to come to the house,
19:31the best option there then is getting yourself to another part of the house away,
19:37barricade yourself in there and calling 999.
19:39What if I got out the bathroom window?
19:41Is that a safe thing for you to do?
19:43It feels scarier because if he was at the door,
19:48then I'm going to walk in straight out to where he is.
19:51So yeah, I would just lock myself in the bathroom.
19:53I'm shaking.
19:54The other thing we can have inside of the house are your personal alarms.
20:00So you'd have one that stays here and also one that is with you at all times.
20:06So...
20:07I sleep with it under a pillow.
20:09Yeah.
20:10I have it in my hand because I'm kind of on high alert.
20:13My head is totally fuzzy and I'm just like panicking.
20:16I'm like, my whole body is shaking.
20:18Can I definitely have these alarms fitted on my bathroom, please?
20:21Yeah.
20:22On all windows, please?
20:23Yeah.
20:24I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but as a female living alone,
20:27with that fear in my head, I did get to a point where I was going to sleep,
20:32not only with the alarm but I had something there that I felt would make me feel safer,
20:37which was a kitchen knife.
20:39I would never be able to use a kitchen knife on anybody because my temperament is not there.
20:44But is that silly of me to do that?
20:47How can I say that something that you genuinely fear or genuinely worry about is silly,
20:53if that's the level of fear that you've got?
20:55Is there a feeling that the system isn't quite matching up to what you guys as detectives
21:02kind of like on the front line want and need from it?
21:06It's really tough because is prison the correct place for him?
21:11Well, yes, from a safeguarding perspective, because it keeps you safe.
21:15But what does it do to tackle the behaviour and stop it being the circle that we're getting?
21:22So we've got offending prison out, offending prison out.
21:28It just doesn't feel fair. The victim lives with it forever.
21:36As Jen Stalker could be released in a matter of weeks, she's meeting up with her sister Sam,
21:47who's been a big support during some of her darkest times.
21:50Hello. Hi. Are you all right? Yeah, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
21:55Lovely to meet you. I'm OK, thank you. How are you? Are you good? Good.
22:00Shall we sit down? Yeah. This is actually a really cute little spot.
22:09I've got to know Jen a bit and heard about what's been happening,
22:15but where do you see all of this going once he gets released from prison?
22:20If he's out and he's free to roam, it doesn't matter to him.
22:25The restraining orders, none of it means anything. It doesn't register.
22:29I do think that she's in massive danger, massive amounts of danger.
22:36How have the rest of the family responded to all of this?
22:41It's broken us all in a way and everyone's so concerned about her, but what can you do?
22:47You can't wrap someone in cotton wool and why should you? Like, what life is that for anyone?
22:52Mm-hmm. It's OK. It's an emotional thing because, you know, seeing your sister go through that everyday fear
23:02and it's a lot for everyone to take on. It exhausted you though. You weren't sleeping, she wasn't eating
23:07and then the doctors were trying to give her, like, anti-anxiety medication or sleeping tablets
23:12and then she said, I can't take him because what if I'm in a state of being a little bit woozy or dozy
23:18and he does turn up? I can't fight him then.
23:21This is what it's done. This is the effects of stalking. You're going in circles of what if this, what if that?
23:26I'll never hear from him again. I'll live in torture doing that to myself now
23:30because he's made me feel that he's so obsessed with me that he'll never leave me alone.
23:35Talk to me about Jen before all of this happened.
23:40She's just fun. We were always out and about socially. The most we do is walk now quietly
23:47or sit inside and watch TV. It's a struggle and it's the fear of not knowing who you're going to meet
23:53and that's what breaks my heart and seeing you now, it's hard.
24:00What do you think could happen when he gets released? Are you worried about that?
24:07More than anything in the world. It terrifies me. I'm really sorry. It's a horrible sentence to say, Jen.
24:13But I honestly think without intervention, he'll kill her. He won't let her go. If he gets her, he'll never let her go.
24:21That's a horrible sentence to say out loud. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry.
24:32Sam's scared. You know, Sam was describing her as the life and soul of the party.
24:38But now Jen has almost become reclusive and she doesn't want to leave the house.
24:44She's completely transformed. And I can't even imagine the pain of having to watch your family member
24:51gradually change into a completely different person.
24:54I am just so overwhelmed by the thought that a stranger, someone you met through a really brief encounter,
25:04how they can completely shatter your whole life, change the person that you are and damage the lives of those around you.
25:14I'm back to see Isabel, who's taking me to the alleyway where her ex-partner said he could see into her flat.
25:27According to Isabel's non-molestation order, he isn't breaking any rules by standing here.
25:34He will only be arrested if he stands on the street outside her flat.
25:38I couldn't really get a full idea of exactly where that alleyway was yesterday because there's obviously so many trees.
25:47Do you feel OK going down there with us?
25:49Yeah, with you guys, yeah.
25:57If you were slightly taller, through here.
26:02Oh, wow.
26:04That is just directly into my living room.
26:09It's quite scary. I don't really want to go back in there.
26:13Does it feel strange, almost, putting ourselves... Are you OK?
26:17Yeah.
26:19You sure?
26:21What's making you feel upset?
26:23Like, actually seeing it, knowing that he's, like, been down here.
26:28It's just weird.
26:32I know.
26:33It's just, I can't wrap my head around it. I don't understand it at all. Or what he gets from it. Just standing here and watching.
26:40Yeah.
26:42I spoke to you at length.
26:43At length.
26:44This is the first time I've, kind of, seen the real emotions that are coming out of you. What about this scenario has made you feel that way?
26:54There's no nothing to catch him, no cameras, no nothing.
26:58No, there isn't, is there?
27:00It's just an alleyway. And it's just the not knowing.
27:04Makes me feel sick.
27:06What do you think he needs to do for you to get this taken seriously?
27:12Seriously hurt me on my son.
27:14It will be that extent, I genuinely think, before they actually start taking it serious.
27:20It feels like when you talk about it, that you've almost accepted the fact that that's just going to have to be something that happens one day.
27:25Yeah, I tried going to the police, I tried telling them that if you don't help me, he's going to kill me or he's going to take me and you're not going to find me again.
27:34And it's just been dropped.
27:37So now it's like it has to get to that extent for them to do something.
27:41I hope it doesn't, but I do think one day that it might happen.
27:50You're feeling OK, yeah.
27:55After spending time with Jen and Isabel, I can see how hard it is for them to get the protection they need to feel safe.
28:12Now, I want to understand what the challenges are to getting a conviction by spending time with the Metropolitan Police's Public Protection Unit.
28:20I am going to give this to Reena, to give her a little bit of a snapshot of it, and then she'll do the work on it.
28:29So I have a stalking with fear of violence.
28:33She's also heard him shout that if she doesn't open the door, he's going to kill her.
28:38So can you tell me a bit about what's going on with this case?
28:40The suspect has, on a number of occasions, come to her home address.
28:45There are numerous threats of violence, like I am going to kill you and I'm going to kill the children.
28:51We are going to attempt an arrest today.
28:54Ready for the drive of your life.
29:02OK.
29:05Can you tell me a bit more about, kind of, what you do on a day-to-day basis and what the overall goal is for the operation?
29:11What we're finding is that when we work on a job or a case and we support the officer in charge, with all the evidence, we are able to get the charges more often than not, but we're also getting more guilty pleas.
29:24I know we're going to arrest the suspect today, but is a part of this trying to collect the device so you guys can download the data from it?
29:38Yeah, so it's important that we arrest the suspect as early as possible.
29:42We don't know the extent of the stalking.
29:44So we've identified the property.
29:46I'm on the standpoint out here just to make sure we don't know if there's any access to any of the shops down below.
29:50What we'll do is we'll get yourself to follow up behind but at a safe distance.
29:55OK. I'll take Zora back out if it's anything.
30:03Stay back here.
30:10He's moved on.
30:12Got an answer at the door.
30:13There's several people living at this address.
30:15So the officers, I think, are just trying to locate the suspect.
30:18He doesn't live there anymore.
30:19No, he's moved on.
30:21This is life or death stuff.
30:23Absolutely.
30:24This could be the one chance we get to save this victim.
30:27Unfortunately, today, we've not got the result we wanted, but we just have to get back and try and locate this gentleman there.
30:33Yeah.
30:34Back at the station, Detective Billy has had an update from a 20-year-old victim on another stalking investigation.
30:50Hi, Billy.
30:51Hello.
30:52So it's not long until the victim comes in, is it?
30:56Yeah.
30:57The victim has kind of lost the courage to go forward now with this investigation.
31:02Is this something that happens a lot?
31:03Yes.
31:04Is there external pressures?
31:06Is there pressures from the family?
31:07Is there pressures from the community?
31:09We've had a harassment order put in place.
31:11He's still continued harassing her because we were then called again.
31:15Being charged, it's not putting him off.
31:17It's not slowing him down.
31:19Someone not wanting to let go of a relationship.
31:22In some eyes, that might be romantic.
31:25In someone else's eyes, that might be scary.
31:27A couple of times a week, I'd give her a call and see if she'd engage with me.
31:31But she finally did pick up.
31:36How is she feeling, do you think?
31:39I think she's a bit apprehensive.
31:41She's had a bit of a fork in the road where she either goes ahead now with this all or she doesn't.
31:48Just for transparency, I'm going to be in the next room typing what you're saying.
31:54So we're here today because you've said to me in regards to the ongoing stalking case that there's something you need to tell me.
32:04I just, I don't know what to do.
32:07That's why I need to talk to you today because I'm lost.
32:10Every day, I get about 50 missed calls.
32:13And then the one phone call I do answer is him calling me a hoe.
32:18It's just, it's just getting too much.
32:20I just need it to stop.
32:21I need to tag put on.
32:23My last resort was call the police.
32:25And ever since I've called the police, I feel like it was the wrong thing to do.
32:29Yeah.
32:30Because I don't feel like I'm getting the justice that I need.
32:33In terms of threats, what's he said to you?
32:35He's telling me he knows where I live still, who my friends are, what I do, he knows my routine.
32:41I'm getting bombarded with phone calls, getting called a hoe, a slag.
32:45Him calling me worthless, telling me no one wants me, telling me my family's trash.
32:50It's, yeah, I'm getting very short.
32:52What's making you feel upset?
32:58The fact that I can't live my life in peace.
33:03I'm just getting, yeah, I'm getting tired.
33:07I'm just a hoe in his eyes because I don't want to be his property no more.
33:11How long from when you've been charged did you start receiving calls from him again?
33:17He was quiet for three weeks.
33:18Have you responded to him?
33:21I've answered a couple of phone calls because I thought it would be the police calling me.
33:25But every time I've answered, it's always heavy breathing.
33:28And that's, to me, that's very, very creepy.
33:31This is the Snapchat of, erm...
33:34I got a missed call there and four missed calls on Snapchat.
33:38Is this all today?
33:40Er, this is...all today.
33:42All of this is today.
33:44Up until here is from yesterday.
33:45Like I have explained to you that he has put forward a notion to dismiss this in cult.
33:51I've got a very short time frame for me to get some of what they want.
33:57I'm here to support you, to try and give you the safeguarding that you need.
34:01Erm, but I need you to support me too in helping us achieve that best evidence.
34:06Yeah.
34:07Are you happy for us to exhibit and evidence your phone?
34:10Yep.
34:11Yeah?
34:12If you're happy, I'd like to go and get a camera and just so I can record your whole call log.
34:18So we'll take a statement from you today, OK?
34:21Are you willing to attend cult?
34:23You know what? I have no choice now.
34:24Why should I have to live my life like this?
34:36Isabel's preparing to move for the sixth time to try to get away from her ex-partner,
34:42who she reported for stalking her for a year after they split up.
34:45So I just found, erm, some notes that I'd wrote down about him.
34:53I've got two other books with probably about six or seven different pages of stuff written in,
35:00because I knew that one day it would get to the point where I would have to call the police.
35:07It's really hard to prove.
35:09I think so much happened that, like, if somebody was to ask me everything that happened now,
35:14there would still be things that I would miss out.
35:16I kind of, like, block out most of it.
35:20It's like you're in, like, a prison.
35:22It's not like I'm still in that relationship,
35:24because, like, you can't get away from him.
35:27He's used the excuse so much that he loved me,
35:30and that that was why he's done absolutely everything.
35:33Like, following somebody around like that and just inflicting pure fear onto a girl.
35:38How is that love?
35:44A week later, Isabel has managed to relocate to a house in a new area.
36:01Oh, thank you.
36:02CJ?
36:06Hi, Mum.
36:07CJ?
36:08Yeah, I'm good, thank you. How are you?
36:15Erm, I've got a woman, she's from a charity, from...
36:20She's Target Hardening, going to come and look at putting alarms on windows
36:24and extra locks on doors and cameras.
36:27Just to make the house a bit safer.
36:29Yeah, OK, I'll see you soon.
36:31Right, bye.
36:34Good boy.
36:35Hello.
36:47Hiya.
36:49Although the police are no longer investigating her allegations,
36:52she still has support from a local charity.
36:55The support worker can't reveal her identity,
36:58as she works in the community supporting victims of stalking and domestic violence.
37:01So, out the back, the main issue that I've got is the shed.
37:06Because if he puts a wheelie bin at the back, jumps over the garden,
37:10you can sit in there and wait all night.
37:12OK.
37:13This is worst case scenario.
37:15I don't want to frighten you or anything.
37:16So, that's where you need to get a bolt.
37:19How big is he?
37:23As in, would he be able to fit through that kitchen window?
37:25Because they're quite narrow.
37:26I imagine if he wanted to.
37:28Yeah.
37:29Probably.
37:30OK.
37:31Right.
37:32Alarms.
37:33So, as soon as you switch it to on, that red light will flash.
37:36It'll beep.
37:38And that's to let you know that it's active.
37:40OK.
37:41And then all I've got to do is pop it up at the top.
37:44This is louder than the window alarms.
37:51OK.
37:52The aim is, is that we want to draw attention to yourself.
37:55So, you can just pull this bit out the bottom.
37:57Unless he's coming into the property, don't try to leave.
38:01999 it.
38:02We usually say a sanctuary room is somewhere where you can block yourself in to try and make your escape.
38:08So, for example, this room would be perfect.
38:10She's been amazing in the house.
38:11She thinks of stuff that I wouldn't have even thought about.
38:12It is good having her come here.
38:13I think I would be a lot more anxious if I didn't have somebody like that coming here.
38:27I will feel OK with, like, day-to-day living here when I have the camera on the back and the doorbell on the front, just so if I'm out, I can still see who's coming past.
38:41I feel a lot more safe than I did.
38:44It's just going to take some getting used to.
38:55Detective Billy's stalking case is moving forward.
38:58He's been able to use the evidence from the victim's phone.
39:02Now, the Operation Atlas team is attempting an arrest of her ex-partner for breaking a domestic violence protection order.
39:08We think he's going to run away from us because of his history.
39:15He's previously escaped from officers whilst he was in handcuffs.
39:21All right, so keep your eyes peeled.
39:23Just keep an eye out, ear out for...
39:26I'm trying to call you.
39:27...south space.
39:31Thank you now.
39:33All right, bud, how are you doing? You all right?
39:43Yeah, unfortunately, what's happened is there's an allegation that you've been stalking her again, making a number of unwanted phone calls.
39:51And you've also breached harassment order, OK?
39:54The time now is 14.57. I'm arresting you.
39:58Come on, mate.
39:59Yeah, on the body once.
40:05Are you all right? You're shaking, Carl?
40:07He arrested the suspect and we've managed to seize the telephone that belongs to him.
40:13And we're going to go to custody now and book him in.
40:15So the physical phone will potentially go for a download.
40:20At this stage, it's an allegation.
40:22He seems shocked and surprised.
40:24The victim's given her account and now it's important that we get the suspect's account.
40:28So he'll need to be interviewed and the allegations put to him because there might be other lines of inquiries that are identified.
40:34I'm catching up with Detective Sergeant Kez to find out if they found any useful evidence on the suspect's phone after the arrest.
40:52So do you have an update on the case where that arrest was made?
40:56We was able to request communication data, specific dates, which the victim alleges she was being contacted and harassed and he had attended her address.
41:06Mm-hm.
41:07You can see contact exceeding like hundreds of times in one particular day.
41:12Wow.
41:13Red being the colour used to show the outgoing calls from the suspect to the victim.
41:18When I sat in the room with her, I could see her phone lighting up and it looked incessant, but when you actually see it in black and white in front of you, 500 calls, 600 calls a day.
41:30Let's read some of these out.
41:3112.05, 12.05, 12.06, 12.08, 12.08, 12.10, 12.11, 12.16. Like, this is constant. Like, it almost feels like his entire life revolves around harassing this victim.
41:47And this is one particular day.
41:49Some people might say, oh, just block the number. They're just calling you. Just get rid of it. But when someone's this obsessive, they will find a way to contact you, whether it's social media, whether it's texting, whether it's calling on withheld numbers.
42:02Like, he seems desperate to find a way.
42:04That's another additional thing. Does the risk increase by changing your number because he now can't make contact?
42:12What are some of his bail conditions that he needs to follow now he's been released?
42:16He's not to possess a mobile phone. He obviously can't make any contact with her directly or indirectly. He can't enter the area in which she lives. If he breaches any of that, then he'll be arrested and remanded again.
42:28I think this is a perfect example of it's almost impossible to argue with the communication data because the calls are being made to her as she says are being made and it's a clear breach of the restraining order, which he knows is in place.
42:41The ex-partner is charged with stalking.
42:45His case is not due to be heard for another 12 months.
42:48So I've been here for around about six months now and he's not found out where we're living yet.
43:01I have to be a lot more careful with where I'm going. I still struggle with leaving the house some days. When I go out, I'm constantly, like, on the scan for if I see his face, which is probably one of the reasons I don't really put myself in public situations.
43:19What happened to me has stolen part, if not a lot of my life, and that is still quite hard to deal with.
43:28I hope that he has lost that fixation for me. I don't want to feel like a victim and I don't want to be a victim of him, of all people. So I just do my best to not be sad about it.
43:52We contacted Dorset Police for a statement regarding their decision not to charge Isabel's ex.
43:59They responded,
44:01Inquiries were carried out and a man was arrested on suspicion of stalking and false imprisonment. After careful consideration of the available evidence and liaison with the parties involved, the man arrested was subsequently released without charge.
44:13They're going to put him too close to me. I'm terrified. What do you think could happen? Something bad. It's more likely to happen. I think he's probably going to attack me.
44:25It was just a pattern of sending me explicit images, saying some pretty disgusting things. Live you're a slut. And then it moves on to live you're a whore.
44:34I'm supposed to just barricade my house of cameras, change my route every time I go somewhere. Everyone enables the behaviour.
44:43Like this is the reality of stalking. This is how some women live every single day.
45:04That ya know it does. That ya know it. It's never even rooms, but you're myself because only now it's safe for a woman.
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