A 39-year-old British man has been found guilty of stalking a social media influencer who he followed to Bali after sending her hundreds of emails and dozens of videos including threats to kidnap and rape her.
Rob Keating, of Old Crawley Road, Horsham, West Sussex, was convicted at Portsmouth Crown Court of two offences of stalking involving fear of violence.
A Hampshire Constabulary spokesman said that Keating first contacted the travel influencer through Instagram in June 2022 before he sent her “constant and concerning messages” that led her to block him.
He then continued to send emails to her personal address including screenshots showing he was still accessing her Instagram posts from secret accounts.
The force spokesman said that the complainant reported receiving hundreds of emails and 30 videos from Keating during a six-month period.
He said: “In December 2022, she received an email from Keating in which he threatened to kidnap her and sent links to videos he had made further threatening to kidnap and rape her.
“He also sent her a photo of a body in a suitcase, alongside videos of him threatening to do the same to her.
“Keating threatened to travel to Bali, Indonesia where the woman lives to kidnap her and began sending her evidence that he had obtained flight tickets and a visa to Indonesia.
“This then escalated into sending photos from locations in Bali that she frequented, as well as from locations near to her address.
“After the woman’s friends saw Keating in person close to her address, the woman fled to a friend’s address and contacted local police, before later leaving the country fearing for her safety.”
Keating, who previously lived in Havant, Hampshire, was arrested at Gatwick airport on March 6, 2023, but despite being under investigation he contacted her again more than a year later.
The police spokesman said: “He contacted the woman again and posted to his own Instagram account a video about the woman, as well as screenshots of flights to Bali with the caption ‘Round Two’.”
Keating was arrested again on November 11, 2024, and remanded into custody where he will remain until he is set to be sentenced on July 25.
