SIMPLE MINDS SEX LIE RUINED MY LIFE
Ordeal of fan stalked by Jim Kerr brother
Simple Minds superfans stalked by singer Jim Kerr’s brother have revealed the cruel sex smears he used to ruin their reputations.
John and Julie Fagan were terrorised by Paul Kerr for a year.
She said: “He’d take pictures of our wedding and put captions on them saying, ‘ This is the w***e Julie who’d sex with 30 men’.”
Two Simple Minds superfans who were stalked by singer Jim Kerr’s brother have told of the sex lies he used to ruin their lives.
John and Julie Fagan were subjected to a year- long campaign of terror by Jim’s estranged brother Paul Kerr.
The couple have told how their health badly deteriorated during the ordeal as Julie was diagnosed with cancer and John developed an ulcer.
Paul Kerr threatened to murder John and drag Julie by her hair in what started as a pointless row over the band’s latest album.
Kerr, 56, who was the Glasgow band’s former tour manager, also falsely accused John of raping a nine-year- old boy and posted sexually abusive comments about him and his wife on Facebook.
He was given a nine-year jail sentence for his actions, with six years in custody and three on extended licence.
John, 51, a nurse, said: “Just before the case, Julie’s father died in September and she hasn’t had time to grieve because of all this.
“Then during the trial, Julie had a routine mammogram and discovered she had breast cancer. She is now awaiting treatment.
“And when the trial was concluding, I was at work and collapsed.
“I had a stomach ulcer which was life-threatening and had to have emergency surgery.
“The strain of everything just took its toll. We’re just glad it’s now over so we can get on with our lives.”
Simple Minds devotee John has been a fan of the band since they shot to stardom and has been to 357 of their gigs.
He watched them become the biggest Scottish act of the 80s with five UK No1 albums and sel ling more than 60mil lion albums.
The band’s top hit singles include Alive And Kicking and Don’t You (Forget About Me)
John and Jul ie remained devoted to the Glasgow act in leaner times and John was a well known face at concerts at home and abroad.
He had no idea how a simple comment on a band forum in January 2018 would lead to the terrifying ordeal.
John had replied to a public post on Kerr’s public Facebook page about the band’s new album, Walk Between Worlds, being “pure s**t”
John said: “Simple Minds had brought out a new album and replaced the long- time drummer and keyboard player.
“There was lots of discussion on band forums about it.
“At this point, I’d heard of Jim
Kerr’s brother Paul but didn’t know much about him.
“Paul Kerr had posted two posts on his own Facebook page, one about his disgust at the drummer being sacked and the other titled ‘pure s**t’ which was about the new album.
“I wrote, ‘ I’ve been a fan for more than 30 years and I think it’s a mistake to get rid of the two former band members.’
“That was it. A purely innocent post. I didn’t call him anything. There were about 100 other comments there, too.
“Days later, I discovered that
Paul had been writing posts telling his followers I’d contacted him privately and asked for his help to harm his brother Jim and destroy his career.
“I was so shocked. Then all his friends began commenting calling us ‘ b*******’.”
The couple, who are from Liverpool but live in Canterbury, Kent, say Kerr began ranting about them online, doctored copies of their wedding photos and wrote posts telling other fans Julie was promiscuous.
Julie said: “He would post describing having sex with me in the most explicit way. He’d take pictures of our wedding day and put captions on them saying ‘ this is the w***e Julie who had sex with 30 men on her wedding night’ for the whole world to see.
“I’d never even met this person. I couldn’t understand why he was doing this.”
John added: “He would tell Facebook friends I was a rapist of a nine- year - old which is completely untrue.
“He called Julie ‘a f***** w***e’ and posted saying his brother Jim had f ***** my wife on our
wedding night.” John and Julie then received a chilling warning from Kerr’s ex- girlfriend Elisabeth Vanthof warning them of his growing obsession.
But it was in July 2018 that pol ice contacted them after Ker r sent emai ls to t wo forces t h r e a t en i n g to murder John.
John said: “We got a message from Elisabeth out of the blue because she wanted to warn us that Paul was obsessed with us.
“She said that he kept talking about the Fagans and how he was going to cripple us. We were really concerned.
“But it was when we came back from holiday that the police came to warn us. We’d been away at Jim Kerr’s hotel for my 50th birthday which had been ruined by Paul posting online that he was going to cripple us with a baseball bat.
“He had told us he was coming to Canterbury and was going to drag Julie by her hair to the police station. We had only been in the door five minutes when the police turned up.
“They told us Paul was in custody because he had emailed Kent Police and Sussex Police saying he was going to kill us.”
The couple installed security cameras at their home and a fireproof letter box. Julie says she was afraid to go to the local shops and John felt on edge leaving work each night.
In October, Kerr, of Brighton, went on trial at Lewes Crown Court and denied harassing the couple between January and November, 2018.
He defended his actions, saying he was unable to cope with his older brother’s fame.
He was found guilty of two counts of stalking against the Fagans and a charge of stalking Elisabeth.
The couple met in 2011 and tied the knot in Taormina, Sicily, in July 2014. They honeymooned at Jim Kerr’s hotel in the region, Villa Angela.
They say they are still Simple Minds fans and plan to return to Kerr’s hotel for their anniversary.
John said: “I don’t know him as a friend personally but between us we have met the whole band quite a lot of times.
“I wouldn’t have expected him to step in to be honest. I feel very sorry for him because Paul is his brother.
“Paul said himself in court that the family have disowned him and he hasn’t spoken to Jim for years.”
Jim Kerr’s spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.
He would post describing having explicit sex with me