Girls Aloud singer’s five-year stalking ordeal at hands of ex
Army veteran sent her knife threats over social media
GIRLS Aloud singer Nicola Roberts was stalked for five years by an ex who threatened to stab and burn her.
Former soldier Carl Davies set up 35 fake social-media accounts to send the star thousands of messages, including pictures of knives and fire.
In other messages, the Afghanistan veteran – who dated Miss Roberts for a few months in 2008 – declared his love for her, sending flowers to the singer’s manager’s office, a court heard.
Miss Roberts, 31, did not respond to any of the messages – but finally reported them to police when Davies targeted one of her friends.
Davies, 39, was taken into custody when he was arrested in February, but he walked free on Friday after being given a suspended sentence.
The court heard Miss Roberts worried the stalking could resume on his release. In a statement, she said: ‘I am worried for when Carl gets out and when he has access again to a mobile phone.’
Miss Roberts rose to fame alongside the then- Cheryl Tweedy in Girls Aloud, which was formed from ITV show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002. When she was in a relationship with Davies, six years later, there were reports of rows between the couple, including Davies tussling with the singer, and she broke up with him.
But Guildford Crown Court heard on Friday that in 2012, Davies, of Flint, North Wales, began his campaign of stalking with thousands of messages over Twitter and Instagram.
He then turned his attention to her friend, 24-year-old singer Joel Compass, last October.
In Miss Roberts’ statement read to Judge Jonathan Black, she said: ‘The messages he sent reminded me of all the terrible things that happened when we were together. It was like walking on eggshells when we were together and the constant messaging was bringing all those feelings back.
‘It was only really last year when he started threatening my friend that I realised things couldn’t go on and I reported it to the police.’
Speaking about her life since Davies was detained, she added: ‘I feel safe in my own home knowing he can’t get to me.’
Davies admitted one count of stalking and one of persistent use of public communication network to cause annoyance or inconvenience and was sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended for two years.
He was also given a lifetime restraining order not to contact the singer or Mr Compass.
Lee Harris, prosecuting, said: ‘There’s the use of knife emojis, threats of burning, and a lot of messages somewhere in between. Miss Roberts took screenshots of each of these messages. Much of the tone of the messages was that they were still in a relationship, though that wasn’t the case, and she was concerned about what would happen.’
Among the 36 messages sent to Mr Compass – who has worked with Miss Roberts – was one threatening: ‘I’ll burn you once I finish with your face and body.’
The judge said Davies sent 3,000 messages to Miss Roberts, some threatening ‘serious violence’.
Monica Stevenson, defending, said Davies had suffered Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder since leaving the Army to work in security. She said: ‘It’s accepted that his conduct inadvertently caused serious harm and upset to both the victims in this case. He conveys, through me, his disgust for his conduct.’
But she added: ‘As Miss Roberts acknowledges, she received these messages but didn’t at any stage contact Mr Davies in any way, least of all to say something like, “Stop sending these messages.”’ Miss Roberts declined to comment.
‘I realised things couldn’t go on’