HOW PROLIFIC CYBERSTALKER MATTHEW HARDY WAS FINALLY CAUGHT AFTER EVADING JUSTICE FOR 12 YEARS
Aspiring model Zoe used to document her life on Instagram, posting photos of what she was getting up to with her family and friends, and proudly sharing snaps from shoots. “I lived life to the full. I loved seeing the world and travelling. Everywhere I went, social media followed me,” she said. Like Zoe, paralegal Lia and fire performer Abby would also put their lives and loves on the grid. “I couldn’t imagine aworld without social media,” said Lia, while Abby added, “My Instagram was apart of me and my personality. I would never have dreamt of what happened. None of us did.”
But their picture-perfect lives became anightmare when they were targeted by cyberstalker Matthew Hardy, who launched a campaign of terror against them. The most prolific cyberstalker in the UK, he was jailed in 2022 for harassing 63 people over 11 years, with many more thought to be affected.
The focus of new Netflix docuseries Can ITell You ASecret?, we look at the chilling story.
ONLINE HELL
Zoe’s life changed in 2017 after she received aSnapchat DM from “Paul”, a photographer, asking if they could work together. But the messages soon took asinister turn. “Can Itell you asecret?” he asked, followed by, “If Iconfess, it will spoil our friendship.” Zoe recalled, “It was very intense. Ihad this fear in me of ‘What am I going to find out?’” Suspicious over her new contact, Zoe realised that Paul was not who he said he was once she had checked with the real photographer on Instagram. But confronting him on Snapchat made matters worse. “The conversation started to get more aggressive and mocking. The fact he knew quite abit about me was alarming,” she said. Paul was, in fact, Hardy and he told her he had created afake Facebook page of Zoe with photos he stole from her Instagram account. He also sent sexy pictures to her friend’s dad, pretending to be her.
The situation soon got worse, with Zoe receiving up to 200 messages a day detailing her movements, including what exercise classes she went to. Her growing anxiety then saw her begin to cast suspicion on everyone in her life.
It was the same for Abby, whose life began unravelling in 2019 after a dream trip to Ibiza with her boyfriend, where she met a group of Instagram influencers, including Jodie. Once they got home, she received messages from her new friend on WhatsApp. “She started to say weird things that made me nervous, like, ‘I know what you did. Can I tell you a secret?’” said Abby. Jodie claim
