Louise Minchin's daughter has spoken out on the 'chilling abuse' her mum suffered during her stalking nightmare for the first time. The former BBC Breakfast host spoke out in January after her and her family were threatened by a stalker last year.
In December, ex-soldier Carl Davies, 44, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for the harassment of Mrs Minchin and her family. Mr Davies, of Flint, North Wales, sent threats to both Mrs Minchin's and her teenage daughter Mia's social media accounts in July 2020.
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The horrifying messages included graphic threats and information that showed Mr Davies knew where the family lived and had visited the location.
Mrs Minchin and her family were on holiday when the messages were received. She said her daughter Mia “desperately didn’t want to go home” and once they arrived back the family felt like prisoners in their own home for weeks.
The police investigation lasted for nine months before Mr Davies was charged.
Now Mia has spoken for the first time of her mum’s stalking ordeal in an episode of ITV’s Tonight programme which airs tonight (Thursday).
She recalls how the stalking began, saying: "I’m logged into mum's Instagram account and suddenly loads of messages started coming.
"They were all kind of just really offensive, calling us not very nice names and then they got much more graphic. It was the kind of actions that he wanted to do against me and mum, which got really personal and they weren't nice to read at all.
"I was kind of terrified, all kind of shaking. I think my heart was beating really fast. I didn't sleep all night. The entirety of the next day I was in floods of tears."
As well as being sentenced to two years and eight months in prison in December 2021, Louise's stalker was also handed an indefinite restraining order.
Louise said in the programme: "It was very clear from the messages that this person knew exactly where we lived and had stood outside our front door. To say I was frightened, just doesn't really touch the surface.
"You are kind of on this high state of alert all the time. You don't know who they are. So, you don't know that that person standing next to you isn't them."
Mia has noticed her behaviour has changed following the stalking. She said: "When I'm walking, I'm very conscious of who is behind me, especially not to have my headphones in if it's dark and there's no one else around."
TV Tonight - Louise Minchin: The Truth About Stalking, investigated the thousands of victims of stalking in the UK, as Louise asks if enough is being done to tackle the crime.
Research commissioned by ITV Tonight suggests more people are looking for information and advice on stalking than before. In 2019, there were 8,500 UK Google searches for the question, ‘what is stalking’? This rose to 11,000 searches in 2021. Between 2019 and 2021, searches for ‘stalking support’ also increased by nearly 200 percent.
ITV Tonight sent a Freedom of Information request to all 43 police forces across England and Wales. 21 police forces responded revealing that out of the 70,385 stalking offences recorded last year (2021), only 237 Stalking Protection Orders or Interim Orders were issued.
ITV Tonight - Louise Minchin: The Truth About Stalking airs on Thursday, March 10, 8:30pm, on ITV or catch-up on ITV Hub.
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