Devastated friend of murdered Molly:
“He was very manipulative – she felt suffocated”
When Molly Mclaren W decided to break up with her boyfriend after a row at her birthday party, she prayed that he was out of her life for good.
Controlling Joshua Stimpson, 27 – who she had met on Tinder – had manipulated Molly throughout their seven-month relationship, trying to isolate her from her friends.
Unknown to Molly, Stimpson had previously stalked and harassed two former girlfriends, even threatening to kill one ex by drowning her.
And after they split, twisted Stimpson started a hate campaign against Molly – stalking her and posting abuse online. Horrifically, just 12 days later, he murdered her in an appalling knife attack.
FRENZIED ATTACK
After following her to a local gym and waiting for her to leave post-workout, Stimpson stabbed 23-year-old Molly 75 times in a frenzied attack in the car park, slashing her chest, neck and throat. Paramedics were called to the scene, but Molly was pronounced dead just 30 minutes later.
Now, Molly’s former work colleague, Amy Lee, has spoken out about the horror for a new Channel 5 documentary, Stalked: Murder In Slow Motion, to raise awareness about cyber-stalking.
Amy says, “He was very manipulative in getting her to spend time with him and would turn up unannounced to her house. He had an end goal to completely isolate her from her friends. She felt suffocated. It wasn’t what she wanted.”
Molly first encountered Stimpson on dating app Tinder in July 2016. She was studying Sport Health at the University of Kent and Stimpson was a double-glazing salesman, who lived near to Molly’s home in Chatham, Kent. The pair began talking every day and met up for the first time in September 2016.
Amy says, “Molly never really had a lot of boyfriends. She was quite passionate about finding the right person. She met Stimpson on a dating app and they realised they had quite a lot in common – Molly had struggled with bulimia and Stimpson had anxiety and depression. She felt like she needed to help him and, in turn, he was helping her.”
During the first four months of their relationship, Molly and Stimpson grew increasingly close – enjoying nights out and romantic meals together.
But by January 2017, things began to turn sour due to his obsessive and controlling behaviour. In a statement read out at Stimpson’s court hearing, Molly’s mother, Joanne Mclaren, recalled, “He would not let her put him off. He would just turn up even if she said no.”
Molly tried to break up with Stimpson, saying, “We can’t be together 24/7. I feel really pressured.” But he bombarded her with messages, begging for another chance. And eventually, a few weeks later, Molly decided to give their relationship another go. But the pair continued to argue and Molly told her friends that she wanted to split up with Stimpson for good.
HUMILIATION
Amy says, “We were out celebrating Molly’s 23rd birthday on 17 June 2017. They had an argument and she snapped and said she didn’t want to be with him any more. He got aggressive. It was the first time any of her friends had
seen a side to him that wasn’t the norm. After that, they argued quite a lot. She ended up blocking him on social media, but he started posting malicious content on Facebook and tried to publicly humiliate her by saying she dabbled in cocaine.”
Molly was terrified and took screenshots of the posts to show her mum. They then went to report Stimpson’s behaviour to the police. Eventually, he agreed to take the posts down.
However, on 28 June, he turned up at the same pub as Molly after her friends had posted about their night out on social media.
Molly was shocked to see Stimpson, but didn’t think any more about it, until the following morning when he stalked her to Puregym in Chatham. He placed a gym mat near to hers and said nothing. Amy says, “Molly texted to say that he was there. I knew that something wasn’t right and told her to leave.”
BLOODY VEST
Stimpson wasn’t there long before he left and Molly followed shortly after – but he was waiting for her in the car park. Horrifically, before she could drive away, he yanked open her car door, pulled a knife from his gym bag and stabbed her 75 times. Despite a courageous attempt by a bystander to intervene while shocked onlookers called an ambulance, Molly couldn’t be saved. When police officers arrived, Stimpson calmly told them, “You want me”. His white vest was covered in Molly’s blood and officers found another knife and a pickaxe in his bag. He was immediately arrested on suspicion of murder.
Amy says, “It wasn’t real. It will never be real.”
Stimpson went on trial at Maidstone Crown Court in January last year. The judge refuted defence claims that he had a personality disorder and he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Shockingly, it was also revealed that he had stalked and harassed two of his former girlfriends. Alexandra Dale, who dated him in 2013, even reported him to police three times after he threatened to drown her, slashed her car tyres and incessantly followed her.
Now, Molly’s parents have set up a foundation in her honour to help people with eating disorders, and Amy is keen to raise awareness about the dangers of stalking.
Amy says, “Maybe if I’d told her to stay in the gym then Stimpson would have got bored and driven away. I’ve still no idea how he knew that Molly was at the gym. That’s the scariest thing about cyberstalking – you never know who’s watching.”
❛ HE HAD AN END GOAL TO COMPLETELY ISOLATE HER FROM EVERYONE ❜