Police knew four years ago about Tinder killer’s digital stalking
A WAREHOUSE worker who “digitally stalked” his girlfriend before stabbing her to death after she ended their relationship had been reported to the police four years earlier for harassing a previous partner, it can be revealed.
Joshua Stimpson murdered 23-yearold Molly Mclaren in a shopping centre car park in Kent after she reported him to the police for posting derogatory remarks about her online.
During his trial it emerged that he had stalked two former girlfriends and had been reported to the police before about his behaviour. Last night Miss Mclaren’s devastated family said that the “full extent of the digital stalking” by Stimpson may never be known, and that more needed to be done to raise awareness of the dangers of stalking to prevent similar tragedies. The family added: “Nothing will take away the pain or allow us to come to terms with our Molly being taken from us.”
Stimpson met Miss Mclaren via Tinder, the dating app, and the pair went out for several months before Miss Mclaren, a student at the University of Kent, decided to end their relationship.
In the two weeks that followed, Stimpson stalked her and posted derogatory messages on Facebook, falsely claiming she took cocaine and threatening there was “more to come”.
She reported the posts to Facebook but nothing happened, so she went with her mother to North Kent Police Station. An officer phoned Stimpson in their presence and warned him to stop or face prosecution.
The 26-year-old was spoken to by police for a second time on June 27 last year – just two days before he stabbed Miss Mclaren to death.
Alexandra Dale, who dated him in 2013, had also reported him to police.
Kent Police said it has brought in the Independent Police Complaints Commission, now known as the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) to conduct an inquiry. The force said the inquiry would be finalised once all criminal proceedings were concluded.
Oliver Saxby QC, representing the defence, said Stimpson claimed to have no memory of the attack and added that psychiatric assessments showed he had a borderline personality disorder.
Stimpson, from Rochester, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility but denied murder. But the jury at Maidstone Crown Court unanimously found him guilty of murder within three hours.
He showed no emotion as Judge Adele Williams told him he planned the killing and jailed him for a minimum 26 years, adding he may never be released.
She said: “This was a cruel, calculated and cowardly act. This was an act of wickedness.”
She described Ms Mclaren as “beautiful and intelligent”, adding: “I am sure you are not suffering from a personality disorder. You planned this killing.”
Ms Mclaren’s family sat in a packed public gallery and wept as the sentence was read out.