After Fern Britton revealed her two-year stalking hell, Woman investigates the true impact such a crime can have on victims
WORDS: NICOLE MADIGAN © COPYRIGHT GUARDIAN NEWS & MEDIA LTD 2024. PHOTOS (ROUNDEL POSED BY MODELS): GETTY, INSTAGRAM@BYNICOLEMADIGAN, SHUTTERSTOCK
Your phone beeps with a message. Seconds later, another arrives. Then another, and another, and before you know it you’ve received tens of messages in a few minutes. Then comes a bombardment of emails, and phone calls, and when you look out of your window, you see them, outside your home. This isn’t a fictional thriller, it’s the terrifying reality of those who find themselves the victim of stalking – fixated, obsessive, unwanted and repeated behaviour that makes you feel pestered and harassed.
Just recently it was revealed that Fern Britton had been targeted by a stalker in a ‘disturbing and scary campaign’. James Haviland, 63, started by sending the former This Morning presenter cards and flowers, then began travelling more than 200 miles to be close to her, even renting out her holiday cottage. He admitted stalking her for two years and is due to be sentenced next month. But it isn’t just celebrities who receive unwanted attention. According to the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, one in five women and one in 10 men experience it and the impact it can have on victims is terrifying, as one woman reveals…
‘YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT’S COMING OR WHEN’
Nicole Madigan was stalked by someone for almost three years.
My husband and I had only been dating a few months when a stalker changed our lives. The moment remains crystallised in my mind. We’d spent the day with family and friends, and were encompassed by the sort of dopamine-fuelled joy new love brings. We were almost ready to call it a night when I heard a Facebook message request come through.
Absent-mindedly, I glanced at my phone, and saw there was a message request. Immediately the account didn’t ring true – there was no profile photo, the name clearly fake. Reading the cruel and vulgar words, I reeled. Profane and crass, the sender’s rage was unmistakable. Within minutes, three more messages came through. All similar in nature.
The messages purported to be from someone who once dated my partner, but I had no idea who it was. A few days later, she made herself known, sending another string of abusive messages, only this time they were from her per
