Stacey Dooley: Stalkers is set to shine a light on the devastating effect of stalking when it airs on BBC One tonight, with one victim revealing she thought her attacker was going to kill her.
Abby, a 22-year-old dancer, was stalked by obsessed fan Jamie who had been arrested three times and convicted, yet continued to make her life a living hell.
Jamie tracked Abby down at her parents’ home and her own house, followed her out to Ibiza on holiday, located her at work, and repeatedly messaged her. He is now behind bars.
‘It all started on my birthday in 2020,’ Abby exclusively told Metro.co.uk. ‘He just turned up to my parents’ house with a gift and a card and asked for a selfie and a hug.
‘I’m really bad with remembering faces and we were in lockdown and loads of neighbours were coming to the door who I hadn’t seen in years. Jamie turned up and I really had no idea who he was. I was trying to make excuses for myself in my head like he must be someone from primary school or something because he seemed to know me really well.
‘I shouted for my mum and she came downstairs, and she said hi and he said, “Hi, I’m Jamie”. I could tell she didn’t recognise him, and she told me to have a conversation with him. I asked him his age, where he was from and what his job was and that completely secured the voice in my head saying you don’t know who this is.’
Abby was ‘mortified’ upon realising that a complete stranger had tracked down her parents’ address, but that would only be the beginning of her ordeal.
‘I sent him a message telling him he was not allowed to see me in person ever again,’ Abby recalled. ‘But then things just got way worse.
‘I didn’t actually realise I was in danger until he started continuously showing up,’ she continued. ‘There was a week where I think he showed up three times. There was one night when I performed on the beach front on the pier that was live-streamed, and he was waiting behind one of the beach huts in Brighton in a black hoodie. That’s when I thought that I was at physical risk. I was really scared.
‘I went home crying to my parents telling them that this guy had been following me. My dad stepped in and he sat down with me and phoned the police with me and that’s when the police got involved.’
Jamie managed to track Abby down while she was on holiday in Ibiza and he also found her new address in Brighton, where he was arrested.
‘I had just moved in and I was living on street level and it meant that people on the street could look in,’ she shared. ‘I was in hysterics. I was so upset. I was hoping I could go back to a place he didn’t know, where I could feel safe at. I made a report, but it was really terrifying.
‘I went through a bit of a phase where I didn’t know where to be and if I stayed at one place for too long, I would have really bad anxiety about being there. I kept flitting from house to house and wouldn’t post where I was.’
Reflecting on how dark her stalking ordeal got, Abby told us: ‘I told myself that I was going to die. I know that sounds completely blown out of proportion, but when you have a stranger following you and turning up to your house at night and following you after work, living in my shed, tracking my every move, learning my running route, I really did think my life was at risk.’
‘I did really struggle with the normal everyday life too,’ Abby added. ‘I kept it up for quite a while, but then it all just got too much and I did have some major breaks where it stopped me from working.
‘I stopped working for a really long time I lost my confidence completely. I was actually at uni at the time and I just I didn’t want to go in because I thought he’d be there.’
Things started to change once Sussex police were involved and after Jamie was arrested outside her home. Abby also learned that her attacker Jamie was autistic, which shifted the hatred she felt towards him.
‘I just wanted him to go to prison and that be it, but then I found out that he had autism,’ she said. ‘It made me realise I need to have a different outlook on Jamie because his brain works differently to other people.
‘Instead of hating him, it made me realise that, although I think prison is right, I also wanted him to get help. I wanted him to progress as a human and find a hobby that he could love and obsess over instead of me.’
The trauma that Abby has experienced has deeply affected her life. ‘I don’t feel like I can ever be the old Abby. I just feel like I live in constant fear of him being around. I never felt anxiety before, but I now feel anxiety. Even my nightmares are terrifying. I dream about it all the time.’
But she is getting better. ‘Jamie’s in prison, so I’m feeling much more positive and confident about what’s been happening.
Abby hopes that by sharing her story, others in the same position won’t feel so alone like she did in the early days.
‘Everyone just used to call me a drama queen and didn’t believe me,’ she said. ‘So with this documentary coming out, I’d really love to be like an example and inspiration to other people because stalking is such a big thing that’s happening.
‘I want to show people that you should seek help as soon as the littlest thing happens because it all builds up. I’d love to also show people that there is a risk putting your whole life on social media.
‘It’d be like really good to make everyone aware of how to keep themselves safe and if anything like this happened to anyone, how they can support a friend how they can support a family member and how they can help themselves.’
Stacey Dooley: Stalkers airs tonight at 10.35pm on BBC One and is available to stream on BBC iPlayer from 6pm.
Credit: Original article published here.You can read this post on My Celebrity Life.
Stacey Dooley: Stalkers is set to shine a light on the devastating effect of stalking when it airs on BBC One tonight, with one victim revealing she thought her attacker was going to kill her.
Abby, a 22-year-old dancer, was stalked by obsessed fan Jamie who had been arrested three times and convicted, yet continued to make her life a living hell.
Jamie tracked Abby down at her parents’ home and her own house, followed her out to Ibiza on holiday, located her at work, and repeatedly messaged her. He is now behind bars.
‘It all started on my birthday in 2020,’ Abby exclusively told Metro.co.uk. ‘He just turned up to my parents’ house with a gift and a card and asked for a selfie and a hug.
‘I’m really bad with remembering faces and we were in lockdown and loads of neighbours were coming to the door who I hadn’t seen in years. Jamie turned up and I really had no idea who he was. I was trying to make excuses for myself in my head like he must be someone from primary school or something because he seemed to know me really well.
‘I shouted for my mum and she came downstairs, and she said hi and he said, “Hi, I’m Jamie”. I could tell she didn’t recognise him, and she told me to have a conversation with him. I asked him his age, where he was from and what his job was and that completely secured the voice in my head saying you don’t know who this is.’
Abby was ‘mortified’ upon realising that a complete stranger had tracked down her parents’ address, but that would only be the beginning of her ordeal.
‘I sent him a message telling him he was not allowed to see me in person ever again,’ Abby recalled. ‘But then things just got way worse.
‘I didn’t actually realise I was in danger until he started continuously showing up,’ she continued. ‘There was a week where I think he showed up three times. There was one night when I performed on the beach front on the pier that was live-streamed, and he was waiting behind one of the beach huts in Brighton in a black hoodie. That’s when I thought that I was at physical risk. I was really scared.
‘I went home crying to my parents telling them that this guy had been following me. My dad stepped in and he sat down with me and phoned the police with me and that’s when the police got involved.’
Jamie managed to track Abby down while she was on holiday in Ibiza and he also found her new address in Brighton, where he was arrested.
‘I had just moved in and I was living on street level and it meant that people on the street could look in,’ she shared. ‘I was in hysterics. I was so upset. I was hoping I could go back to a place he didn’t know, where I could feel safe at. I made a report, but it was really terrifying.
‘I went through a bit of a phase where I didn’t know where to be and if I stayed at one place for too long, I would have really bad anxiety about being there. I kept flitting from house to house and wouldn’t post where I was.’
Reflecting on how dark her stalking ordeal got, Abby told us: ‘I told myself that I was going to die. I know that sounds completely blown out of proportion, but when you have a stranger following you and turning up to your house at night and following you after work, living in my shed, tracking my every move, learning my running route, I really did think my life was at risk.’
‘I did really struggle with the normal everyday life too,’ Abby added. ‘I kept it up for quite a while, but then it all just got too much and I did have some major breaks where it stopped me from working.
‘I stopped working for a really long time I lost my confidence completely. I was actually at uni at the time and I just I didn’t want to go in because I thought he’d be there.’
Things started to change once Sussex police were involved and after Jamie was arrested outside her home. Abby also learned that her attacker Jamie was autistic, which shifted the hatred she felt towards him.
‘I just wanted him to go to prison and that be it, but then I found out that he had autism,’ she said. ‘It made me realise I need to have a different outlook on Jamie because his brain works differently to other people.
‘Instead of hating him, it made me realise that, although I think prison is right, I also wanted him to get help. I wanted him to progress as a human and find a hobby that he could love and obsess over instead of me.’
The trauma that Abby has experienced has deeply affected her life. ‘I don’t feel like I can ever be the old Abby. I just feel like I live in constant fear of him being around. I never felt anxiety before, but I now feel anxiety. Even my nightmares are terrifying. I dream about it all the time.’
But she is getting better. ‘Jamie’s in prison, so I’m feeling much more positive and confident about what’s been happening.
Abby hopes that by sharing her story, others in the same position won’t feel so alone like she did in the early days.
‘Everyone just used to call me a drama queen and didn’t believe me,’ she said. ‘So with this documentary coming out, I’d really love to be like an example and inspiration to other people because stalking is such a big thing that’s happening.
‘I want to show people that you should seek help as soon as the littlest thing happens because it all builds up. I’d love to also show people that there is a risk putting your whole life on social media.
‘It’d be like really good to make everyone aware of how to keep themselves safe and if anything like this happened to anyone, how they can support a friend how they can support a family member and how they can help themselves.’
Stacey Dooley: Stalkers airs tonight at 10.35pm on BBC One and is available to stream on BBC iPlayer from 6pm.
Credit: Original article published here.You can read this post on My Celebrity Life.
