BBC presenter Louise Minchin has opened up on her terrifying ordeal which saw her subjected to intimidation and threats from her Welsh stalker.
Carl Davies, 44, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison in December last year after posting multiple "intimidating" messages "intended to maximise fear and distress" to Ms Minchin and her teenage daughter's social media accounts over four days, between July 14 and July 17, 2020.
The court case at Mold Crown Court heard how in one message to Ms Minchin, he threatened violent, physical harm and indicated he knew her family's home address, the village they lived in, and the cars that were in their driveway at the time. You can read more from the court case by clicking here.
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Now, in an interview with The Telegraph, Ms Minchin has opened up on what she and her family went through in the hopes of helping other victims.
"It is a truly blood chilling thing to discover a faceless stranger who wants to do you and your family serious harm, knows exactly where you live, has stood outside your house, and taken note of the cars that are parked in your drive," Ms Minchin told The Telegraph.
She explained how in July 2020, she had been away for a few nights with her family, husband David, and daughters Mia, 19, and Scarlett, 16, when her youngest daughter, who helps run her Instagram account, alerted her to something she was worried about, telling her: “Mum, there’s someone sending you some not very nice messages”, and that the person sending the messages had also 'followed her' online profile.
The 53-year-old presenter said the tone of the messages "went very quickly from strange to scary".
"Overnight, messages came in thick and fast to both of our accounts," she told The Telegraph.
"They were increasingly vile and graphic. By the morning, our inboxes were filled with shockingly violent threats. He said he would rape my daughter in my house. And terrifyingly, he seemed to know exactly where we lived.
"The details he had about where I live was chilling, he could have only known them if he had been stood right outside my house. 'I know where you live,' he wrote. 'You’re not going to live there for much longer. I’m coming after you.'"
The messages and the account were deleted, but the family had taken screenshots of his messages, and reported it to the BBC in the morning, which then contacted the police.
"The girls were absolutely terrified, particularly Mia, who was traumatised by the messages. The threats were so graphic I still haven’t allowed my husband to read them," Ms Minchin said.
"No one should have to read those words. Mia desperately didn’t want to go home, but though I was just as frightened I felt we needed to get back somehow. At least if we were there we could batten down the hatches while the police tried to find him."
Feeling like "prisoners in their own home" for weeks, the family put up installed CCTV cameras and put up extra fencing, and Ms Minchin would not allow her daughters to go out alone. They also changed their daily routines and walking routes.
And the presenter admitted she considered quitting her job at BBC Breakfast through the ordeal, something that her daughters talked her out of.
"I was in a state of high alert – functioning, but looking over my shoulder constantly. If someone outside the house looked strange or out of place, I’d call the police as I had been advised to do, just in case it was him. They were supportive, but I felt none of us were safe," Ms Minchin told the Telegraph.
"That was a huge relief; I didn’t want to see his face let alone be in the same room as him," she said.
"I sometimes still wish I didn’t know what his face looks like. Though in some way it’s helpful, I suppose, to know what he looks like so when people smile and say hello, I know I am OK, I am safe, it’s not him, just someone who recognises my face from the telly.
"If anything good can come out of what we have been through it’s the clear message that perpetrators don’t always stay anonymous; they can be prosecuted.
"The whole experience has been enormously emotionally draining and scary, and I have had help getting through it. I was lucky that a couple of colleagues who have experienced similar issues reached out and have been hugely supportive.
"Counselling has helped with some of those dreadful intrusive thoughts. Mia and I have both needed help to cope with what we’ve been through and are doing much better now, though it has left a mark. We’re both cautious around people in a way we never used to be. As a mother I’m devastated Mia has to live with the memory of this now. She’s only 20; she should never have had to experience something like this but especially at that age and stage in her life.
"Throughout this ordeal, I’ve tried to be strong for my girls. I told myself that I was OK, I was coping. I didn’t realise I was fooling myself. I know I slept a little easier the night I knew he was finally behind bars. And the next morning, for the first time in 18 months, I didn’t look twice before leaving the house."
You can read the full interview with Louise Minchin at The Telegraph website by clicking here.
