Woman reveals stalking horror in Stacey’s TV show
ACHESHIRE woman opened up about her experiences of being a victim of stalking for seven years.
Jo appeared on the second episode of Stacey Dooley’s new BBC documentary, which focused on stalking across the county.
The two-part documentary saw Stacey work with Cheshire Police to stop stalking from escalating into ‘life changing violence, or even murder’.
While speaking to Stacey in the BBC documentary, Jo revealed she has been a victim of stalking for seven years and it began when she was just 24.
The man who has been stalking her, Michael, is more than twice her age and their first encounter was eight years ago while Jo was working at a physio clinic. Recalling the first time they met as she entered the waiting room, he had a bunch of flowers for her.
She explained that she’d never met the man before and that he said he had a problem with his knee but there was nothing wrong with it.
Jo says Michael asked personal questions during the treatment, including about her salary, where she lived and her car.
She revealed he asked for her mobile number before he left and she refused to give it to him.
But she began to receive calls from an unrecognised number.
She told Stacey: “I started to wake up to five or six missed calls in the morning then I answered one and I said ‘Hello’ and I just heard ‘Hello love’ and I just froze.
“I just didn’t know what to do, it’s controlling in a way that you can’t explain.
“You just lose all your security – I’m a confident person and you’re just knocked back again.”
After the phone calls, she received a friend request from Michael and was shocked when she clicked on his profile.
She said: “The next time it was a Facebook request and I just clicked on the profile, he had a photo of me and my friend as his cover photo.
“I got a text message from someone saying they had been round this guy’s house and he’s telling everyone he’s going to marry you – contact the police immediately.”
Police suspected Michael was still trying to make contact with Jo after being convicted for stalking her a year ago, based on his previous communications.
Stacey reads out some of the messages she received over five years.
“You love me, I love you, no more women I love just only you.”
“Nobody can split you and me except God, so as the result of our love I hope we will get our baby.”
In the lead up to Michael’s conviction, police found a laminated passport style photo of Jo inside his wallet.
Stacey is shocked by the police’s findings and says: “This is like something you see out of a movie, how has he got that?
“In his mind, seemingly, they’ve got this bond and this relationship and she belongs to him.
“It’s hard to know which is worse, somebody who isn’t deluded but is sinister, or there is malice there, or somebody who isn’t living in the real world because both could potentially do you harm.”
Michael was then sentenced to a five-year restraining order, which meant that making any new contact with Jo would be a criminal offence.
During the programme, Stacey accompanies police officers to arrest Michael for breaching his restraining order.
The officer tells Michael they are going to arrest him for stalking and the presenter notices how cooperative he is, commenting that he doesn’t seem surprised.
She then asks him if he knows why he is being arrested, he responds: “I don’t know.
“Because I was in hospital. I don’t know the problem.
“Made me surprised. I didn’t do anything.”
Stacey and the officers then explain to him that he is being arrested for stalking and breach of his restraining order but Michael asks: “What is stalking?”
Cheshire police then searched his home for evidence and officers found three mobile phones and another on Michael.
They also discovered letters that could have ‘possibly’ been Michael writing to himself, pretending to be Jo.
Some of the letters read: “Hi darling, I’ll be there soon. Love you so much, miss you.
“Can’t wait to see you soon, I love you so much, miss you.”
After studying the evidence seized from Michael’s house, police found evidence of him googling Jo ‘almost daily’.
The episode also aired audio recordings from his interview, where he said: “I don’t want to go to prison. I am scared of prison and so I wouldn’t do that, I will not do this again.”
Jo explained to Stacey that she wants her life back: “It’s literally just sick, it’s sick that he can think I’m going to marry him and think I’m with him, or anything.
“You just think – what is it that he’s got over me and why is he doing it? What does he want? And when will it end?
“I just want my back.”
At the end of the episode, it explains that Michael pleaded not guilty to breaching his restraining order and will be on trial in the summer of this year.
● Stacey Dooley Stalkers: Episode Two is available on BBC iPlayer. life