Come Dine winner faces jail term for online abuse
Admitted stalking her lover’s ex
A COME Dine With Me winner is facing jail after conducting a year-long online stalking campaign against her boyfriend’s ex-partner.
Lucy Haughey, 36, who won the Channel 4 reality show in January, admitted bombarding Sharon Low with threatening and abusive messages that left her terrified and humiliated.
She sent Facebook messages to friends of Miss Low, directed at her victim, telling her that she knew personal information about her.
Haughey left voicemail messages, sent an obscene picture message, and phoned Miss Low’s mother and ranted about her daughter.
At Glasgow Sheriff Court she admitted stalking Miss Low between June 2015 and May 2016.
Sheriff Linda Ruxton said: ‘This is one of the most serious types of online stalking that I have come across. It’s sustained and it’s wicked.’
Defence lawyer Paul McCue said Haughey has three children and ‘recognises the situation she’s in’.
The sheriff said: ‘She recognises she is maybe facing a custodial sentence, three children or not.’
Procurator fiscal depute Ruth Ross-Davie said Miss Low had never met Haughey, but the messages revealed that Haughey knew who she was.
The prosecutor said the first message of concern was in June 2015 after Miss Low contacted Haughey’s ex-partner James Keegan. It said Haughey was aware Miss Low had been ‘doing stuff in her life’ that Haughey ‘shouldn’t know about’.
Miss Low blocked Miss Haughey from her Facebook account was sent upsetting messages via close friends about personal matters including one describing her as ‘sad, lonely, frustrated, no sex, no personality’.
Miss Ross-Davie added: ‘Miss Low is a social worker and she disclosed these messages to her line manager. Miss Low is described as being terrified and humiliated by the content of the messages.’
In a phone call to Miss Low’s mother Shirley Otley, Haughey ‘ranted’ about her daughter and included several references to ‘you tell Sharon this’ or ‘you tell Sharon that’ made in a threatening manner.
The court was told Haughey phoned Miss Low at her work in August 2015 but she hung the phone up. Miss Ross-Davie added: ‘This didn’t bring an end to this matter, she then received text messages which stated: “I know your secrets, all of them, leave us alone or it’s all out there”.’
Miss Low closed down her Facebook account but received more messages to a new account she thought was anonymised. One said: ‘Get to f*** you sad hairy whoreathon wino.’
Her stalker left an abusive voicemail rant which caused yet more upset because ‘every effort she made to block this contact seems to be got round by Haughey’.
The contact continued but lessened in frequency and abusive tone, but in March 2016, Haughey sent messages using the WhatsApp messaging app.
One threatening message included ‘watch your attitude, watch that high horse and watch your fake life on here, there’s always someone watching who knows the truth’.
Haughey also sent a picture of a naked body part which the court heard was not sexual but ‘obscene’. Paul McCue, defending, said Haughey claims she was in an abusive relationship at the time with Miss Low’s ex, Mr Keegan.
He added: ‘It seems to me he manipulated Miss Haughey in to making contact on his behalf, otherwise there’s no reason for her to make contact.’
Sheriff Ruxton adjourned the case until next month for further information and continued bail for Haughey, from Crosshill, Glasgow.
She pointed out that Haughey had put private and sensitive information about Miss Low on social media ‘for many to see’.
A source close to Sharon Low yesterday said: ‘Lucy took away Sharon’s peace of mind. She should have been bonding and focusing on her newborn baby but instead she was in fear.
‘She was left frightened because she came after her job and made her feel unsafe, nervous and really quite jumpy all the time.’
‘I know all of your secrets’