Stabbed to death by her Tinder date
CA M 1 06:052:38 07/07/18 Wherever Molly Mclaren went, her obsessive ex was there – watching her...
Joanne Mclaren wasn’t sure about her daughter’s new boyfriend.
It was July 2016, and Molly, 22, from Cobham, Kent, had recently met Joshua Stimpson, 25, on the dating app Tinder.
Told Joshua was bipolar, Joanne felt apprehensive about meeting him. But when she did, that November, she’d felt relieved her girl’s new man seemed ‘normal’, if a little cold.
Molly, on the other hand, was loved for her warmth and ‘heart of gold’. Close to her mum, and dad Doug, Molly had lots of friends, and enjoyed going to festivals.
She was a sensitive girl, though, had battled bulimia and anxiety. Her recovery had inspired her to study Sports Health at the University of Kent.
She dreamed of helping others with eating disorders, and started a blog on positivity, writing, Be kind to everyone as you don’t know what battles they are facing…
Perhaps that’s why she took a chance on Joshua.
However, the warehouse worker soon seemed immature.
He was demanding, too – would turn up when Molly had said she couldn’t see him.
On 25 May 2017, Molly texted Joshua saying she felt she was constantly treading on eggshells, before finally ending the relationship at a party on 17 June.
Joshua took it badly, causing a scene and shouting, ‘She’s finished with me!’
Over the next few days, he posted lies about Molly on Facebook, saying she’d dabbled with cocaine. Another chilling comment indicated there was more to come.
Molly told her friends she was scared Joshua might hurt her.
When she reported the abuse at North Kent Police Station, the investigating officer PC Philpott dialled Joshua on loudspeaker and said, ‘We wouldn’t want Molly to come to the police station again about you, would we?’ ‘Wouldn’t we?’ Joshua replied. Days later, Molly was chatting to friends at The Ship & Trades pub in Dockside, Chatham, when she spotted a familiar face staring at her. Joshua Stimpson. Her friends said he was a creep, who must have followed her after they’d posted about their night out on social media.
Next morning, 29 June 2017, Molly drove to her gym at Chatham Docks. Joshua went into the gym after her and she confronted him, asking, ‘Are you following me now?’
Her mum Joanne was at home a little while later when her phone rang.
‘He’s here, Mum,’ Molly said, sounding frightened.
Joanne knew who she meant, and urged her to come home.
It was the last time she would speak to her daughter.
Minutes later, Molly left the gym. Sitting in her black Citroen C2 in the busy car park, she messaged friends on Whatsapp... I feel like I am f*cking looking over my shoulder all the time.
One friend replied, warning her to be careful.
Tragically, Molly never read the messages, because Joshua had followed her.
In broad daylight, he pulled out a knife, yanked open the driver door and launched a
He posted lies about Molly on Facebook
ferocious attack. He stabbed Molly repeatedly in the head and neck as she desperately beeped the car horn. A passer-by tried to save her. ‘He’s killing her,’ he shouted, trying to pull Stimpson away, but his hand slipped because of all the blood, and Stimpson moved further inside the car, hacking at Molly’s neck.
Police arrived and arrested Stimpson.
Meanwhile, her mum was at home, panicking. Where’s Molly?
Her worst fears came true when police arrived. Molly was dead.
She’d suffered a horrific 75 stab wounds in the ‘frenzied attack’, during which her neck had almost been severed. She hadn’t stood a chance. Her distraught friends and family were left asking ‘why?’.
At Maidstone Crown Court, in January 2018, Stimpson, 26, denied murder, pleading guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility. However, he was tried for murder.
Giving evidence, Stimpson’s former girlfriend Alexandra Dale described him as ‘possessive’ and ‘on the edge’.
She said he’d stalked her and threatened to ‘drown’ and ‘stab’ her.
Benjamin Morton, the man who’d tried to save Molly, told the jury Stimpson seemed ‘determined to overwhelm’ and kill her.
The court heard Stimpson had been affected by his parents’ break-up during his childhood. In the following years, he’d repeatedly been referred to a mental-health clinic due to his ‘hypersensitivity to any rejection’.
But psychiatrist Dr Philip Joseph said Stimpson had shown ‘no remorse’ for killing Molly and had narcissistic traits.
The jury saw CCTV footage of Stimpson buying a Sabatier paring knife from Asda in Chatham before the killing.
The police also recovered two Stanley knives and a pickaxe from his car.
CCTV footage from the gym on the day of Molly’s death showed her arriving at 10.06am. Ten minutes later, Stimpson drove his dad’s car into the car park.
Further footage showed him going inside wearing a white vest, dark shorts and trainers, and carrying a gym bag hiding the weapons. Going upstairs, he was filmed entering an almost empty exercise room, walking slowly past Molly.
On seeing him, she got up and talked to him before carrying on exercising. After walking out a little while later, Stimpson appeared to be waiting for Molly, holding his gym bag and peering into the exercise room before leaving the gym.
Molly was then seen for the last time – walking into the car park, holding her phone as she went to get into her car. Minutes later, she was dead. The jury was next shown film taken from a police body-worn camera, after the killing.
In the car park, the police officer approached Stimpson, standing next to Molly’s car. He was covered in her blood.
When asked his name, Stimpson calmly replied, ‘Josh.’
After the evidence had been heard, the jury took four hours to deliberate, then found Joshua Stimpson guilty of murder.
Jailing Stimpson for a minimum of 26 years, Judge Adele Williams told him, ‘You are a highly dangerous young man and you will pose a very considerable risk to women for a very considerable period in the future. This was a cruel, calculated and cowardly act.’
Molly’s mum Joanne wept outside court as the family urged for more public awareness about stalking.
They have since launched an eatingdisorder charity, The Molly Mclaren Foundation, and organised a fundraising festival, Molly-fest, to ensure her legacy lives on.
If it wasn’t for Stimpson, Molly herself would be living on, spreading kindness everywhere she went.
She’d suffered a horrific 75 stab wounds