Award-winning stalking podcast tells Alice’s story
A STUDENT who interviewed tragic Alice Ruggles before she was murdered has turned the heartbreaking story into an award-winning podcast.
Alice, 24, was brutally killed by her soldier ex-boyfriend who had been stalking her since she ended the relationship.
Lance Corporal Trimaan “Harry” Dhillon broke into Alice’s flat in Gateshead and slit her throat in October 2016 after finding out she was seeing another man.
Dhillon is now serving at least 22 years behind bars after a jury saw through his lies that the attack was self-defence. Alice was working at Sky in Newcastle when she met with University of Sunderland student Emma Casson to talk about a project about moving from university into working life.
Emma, now a 25-year-old graduate, described Alice, who was originally from Leicestershire, as a “lovely girl”.
And to mark National Stalking Awareness Week, Emma has opened up about the time she shared with Alice.
“It was funny,” recalls Emma. “I turned up to interview her and we were both wearing the exact same outfit from New Look.
“I liked her straight away, she was a lovely girl and we were around the same age.”
With everything to live her, Alice’s life was cruelly cut short just over a year later by her ex-boyfriend.
Emma, from Wallsend, said: “After what happened to Alice, all I could think was that this could have been me or one of my friends. I want more people to be aware of what stalking is and the consequences it can have.”
Emma was so moved by the tragedy that she felt she needed to use her degree in advanced radio production and management to warn others of the dangers of stalking.
Emma’s documentary podcast, ‘Alice’s Story’ has now received a silver award from the Charles Parker Prize.
The prize is awarded each year for the best student radio feature and is open to any higher education students studying radio production in the UK.
Emma said: “I saw that Alice’s family had set up the Alice Ruggles Trust, so I arranged to interview them as well as Maxine McGill, who had been Alice’s flatmate.”
The interviews formed the basis of the Alice’s Story podcast, where listeners hear first-hand about the campaign of stalking which ultimately led to Alice’s death. Emma, who is a freelance podcast documentary-maker, said: “Alice’s family are such strong and dignified people and it’s really important to them to get the message out there about stalking.
“A lot of young people don’t realise just how easy it can be to track someone online.
“It’s incredible the amount someone can find out about you just through social media accounts.”
According to the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, 73% of stalking victims experience 100 incidents before reporting any to the police.
Victims of stalking can seek help by phoning the Suzy Lamplugh Trust’s National Stalking Helpline on 0808 802 0300 or police on 101.