Prosecutors let me down over social media stalking, says singer
POP star Nicola Roberts has accused prosecutors of failing to understand the problem of social media stalking following a campaign of harassment by her former boyfriend.
The former Girls Aloud singer says Carl Davies, a businessman and former soldier, used social media as a way of “watching” her, despite a restraining order.
And she has now offered to teach Crown Prosecution Service lawyers about social media stalking.
Miss Roberts, 32, split up with Davies in 2008 after an 18-month relationship.
The Afghanistan veteran went on to bombard the singer with thousands of messages, including abuse and death threats, from 35 fake social media accounts.
In May 2017, he was given a lifetime restraining order.
He was later charged with breaching the restraining order by viewing the singer’s Instagram posts between July and August 2017.
But the CPS dropped the case because it believed there was no realistic prospect of a conviction.
Miss Roberts said the CPS had later admitted it was wrong.
She said the stalking left her scared to keep her window open at night or to make new relationships public.
She told The Sunday Times Davies had started following her on Instagram after the restraining order, to let her know that “he was still watching me”.
She said: “You are too scared to take the dogs out for a walk because when someone plants vicious seeds you just imagine every possible outcome.
“This is a relationship which ended 10 years ago.
“I should be able to move on from an unhealthy relationship if I want to, and that has not been able to happen for me.”
Now the CPS has apologised to Miss Roberts for failing to prosecute Davies for breaching the restraining order by stalking her on Instagram.
“We accept our decision not to prosecute the breach of the order was incorrect,” said a CPS statement.
“We have written to Miss Roberts to apologise and have taken steps to ensure lessons are learned from the case.
“We fully appreciate the impact stalking and harassment has on victims and we take prosecuting these cases extremely seriously.
“We regularly update our legal guidance to keep up with changes in technology, including social media platforms.”