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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Evening Standard Staff

Baby Reindeer 'real-life Martha stalker' accused of bombarding Sir Keir Starmer with nearly 300 emails

A woman who believes she is the inspiration behind the stalker portrayed in Baby Reindeer reportedly sent hundreds of emails to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

The Netflix series has been watched by 65 million people worldwide and is said to be a dramatised account of the stalking its writer and star Richard Gadd says he suffered.

Scottish lawyer Fiona Harvey, 58,  has identified herself as the woman portrayed as Martha the stalker in the series but denied she stalked Gadd and claimed she is exploring legal action.

According to a report in The Sun, Ms Harvey also sent hundreds of emails to Sir Keir, describing him as a “stupid little boy” and a “useless barrister”.

It was claimed 276 emails - from two separate email addresses - were among those forwarded on by Ms Harvey to The Scottish Sun over a period of several years

In one email she is alleged to have said: “Keir cut the crap with me you stupid little boy.

“See from now on if l complain about the slightest little thing your life won’t be worth living.”

In another 1,420-word email during lockdown, she is alleged to have said Labour’s shadow cabinet was “full of imbeciles” and “yes men”.

She suggested a deal had been done where unions backed Starmer for leader “and in return you get that imbecile Angela Rayner as depute”.

Richard Gadd as Donny, Jessica Gunning as Martha in Baby Reindeer (Ed Miller/Netflix)

Ms Harvey is also claimed to have used a slur against Sir Keir’s wife, Victoria, adding: “God she looks dreadful. Dreadful.”

The paper reported the emails were sent between January and August 2020 and many were concerned with Camden Council.

Sir Keir represents Holborn and St Pancras in Parliament, close to Kilburn where Ms Harvey lived in 2020.

Ms Harvey denied to The Standard that she had bombarded Keir with offensive emails, saying: “This is nonsense, the emails are nothing to do with me.”

She said the first she had heard about the allegations was when she was contacted by The Standard on Monday morning.

The Sun said the Metropolitan Police was aware of the messages but the force declined to comment on Monday.

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Ms Harvey alleged that the Netflix show was “making money out of untrue facts” and denied ever being at the writer’s home, contacting his parents or sending thousands of texts and emails.

She told the broadcaster in an interview: “I haven’t watched any of it... I think I’d be sick. It’s taken over enough of my life. I find it quite obscene. I find it horrifying, misogynistic.

“Some of the death threats have been really terrible online, people phoning me up. It has been absolutely horrendous.”

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