Ex-ITV news anchor Isla Traquair has opened up about how her stalker ordeal has impacted her life since learning he had been convicted.
The 42-year-old was terrorised by Jonathan Barrett, 53, for seven months after she moved into her dream home in a country cottage in the Cotswolds in March last year.
Barrett was convicted of stalking at Salisbury Magistrates' Court, after the court heard he had even climbed over her garden wall to get inside her house and offer her a sandwich.
The former ITV and Channel 5 anchor was left suffering from panic attacks and nightmares due to Barrett's actions, opening up about the ordeal in an interview on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday morning.
Isla appeared in the studio alongside hosts Adil Ray and Charlotte Hawkins to discuss the stalking conviction which was handed down a month ago.
Charlotte said to Isla in the studio: “The things you have been through – the fact that you can’t live in your own home now just feels staggering.
“How does this make you feel now, because I know it had such a big impact on your life. Where do you go from here?”
“Therapy,” Isla immediately replies with a wry smile, before continuing: “It has had a big impact. I definitely have PTSD.”
She said: “I’m triggered every time I see a van like his. It doesn't matter where I am in the country, I look at the last three digits.
“I had to go and stay in America, just to have a break away, to stay with my brother to calm down and get some sense of safety.
“Moving forward for me, apart from my own personal journey, I feel it's important for me to try and help other victims. I’m happy to do this, but it's also important for me to try and move on.”
She continued: “That means I cannot live in that area. I don't even want to go and visit there for the risk of running into him.
“There is a restraining order, but facts and history have shown that most convicted stalkers will reoffend.
“He doesn’t believe he’s done anything wrong. The probation report said he doesn’t accept he’s committed a crime and has a distorted view of me. That does not fill me with confidence going forward.”
Previously Isla, who recently worked on the Oprah Winfrey Network in the US and released a true crime podcast, told the court: “It has affected every part of my life. I can’t live in my home, I have had to stay with friends on their couches.
"I have had nightmares, it’s affected my relationships. When I was in the house, I barely went out at all because I was scared I would see him.
“I have panic attacks, I would wake in the middle of the night. Even if I saw a white van, because that’s what he drives, that would set me off. It breaks my heart I can’t live in my own home.”
