A stalker who bombarded a former Miss England with nine months of messages made her feel like a "shell of a person" who can't find joy in anything. Dhawal Chaudhary, of no fixed address, has been issued a hospital order and must remain at the Wells Road Centre in Nottingham until he is deemed fit to be released.
He'd been bombarding Stephanie Hill, from Derbyshire, and her partner with a large number of messages via social media between October 2020 and June 2021, despite having never met the pair. Chaudhary was arrested at Heathrow Airport in July 2021 after arriving back in the UK on a flight from India, The Mirror reports.
Addressing the court, which had members of Chaudhary's family in attendance virtually from India, Sarah Slater, prosecuting, said that Miss Hill believed he became infatuated with her when she went to India in 2018.
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The court heard she was in the country carrying out work for her social media channels. Miss Slater said: "The first contact she had with him was when she returned to the United Kingdom on October 12, 2020. She described that when he started contacting her it was all very normal, but then things developed from there and she started to receive strange messages from him because she wasn't replying fast enough."
Miss Slater said the messages began to contain explicit sexual content along with pictures and diagrams and contained talk about them having grandchildren. He also said: "It's not rape, it's love." The court heard that when Miss Hill blocked Chaudhary's account he would simply make another one and continue to message her from the new account. Miss Slater read out a statement from Miss Hill: "It was relentless and took all the joy out of her job and helping people."
Miss Hill tried to change her name and act like she had left the company she was working for, but that only worked for a few days with Chaudhary telling her he was going to travel to the UK, study for an MBA and he would find her, they would get a flat together and live together.
Miss Slater said that during the course of the messages, Chaudhary set up "50 different accounts to message her, created fake pages on Instagram pretending to be other people and started to tag her in posts, which was the only way he could contact her by the end".
Miss Slater said: "Mr Harper, her partner, received his first message on December 29, 2020, when Chaudhary created a group chat between the three of them telling them he was going to come to the United Kingdom."
Mr Harper didn't respond and Chaudhary then started to bombard him with messages.
The contact with Mr Harper reached such a stage that Chaudhary set up an Instagram page called "We will kill Daniel Harper if he doesn't stay away from Stephanie Hill". Miss Hill said she begged and pleaded with Chaudhary to leave her alone but the messages changed and became more aggressive.
Chaudhary set up a page entitled "Justice for Sarah Everard", posting comments about that topic, but through that page other people would join in to bully and harass Miss Hill. Chaudhary sent Miss Hill messages saying she was a sex worker and that her partner, Mr Harper, was cheating on her. He also set up a Spotify playlist.
As a result Miss Hill completely removed herself from all forms of social media and reported it to the police. In a statement, Miss Hill said: "I wouldn't want anyone to live like I have over the last nine months, I've been worn away into a shell of a person. I find no joy in doing anything as I feel I have to watch my every movement. I was a strong and confident person before but I've never had anyone treat me like this."
Defending Chaudhary, who admitted stalking involving serious alarm or distress, and putting a person in fear of violence, Rebecca Coleman told the hearing that the actions of her client have left his family devastated and in a state of shock.
She said: "The impact on Stephanie Hill and Daniel Harper is great but the impact on his family members is also quite significant." Sentencing him at Derby Crown Court, Judge Shaun Smith told Chaudhary that he believed his crimes were a result of his mental illness.
Dr Younis Saleem said he thought the condition was either erotomania or schizophrenia. Judge Smith handed the 27-year-old an unlimited restraining order to keep away from Stephanie Hill, Daniel Harper and Elaine Hill.
As well as the hospital order, Judge Smith also issued a restriction order adding that he felt Chaudhary was a "danger to the public." An appeal was made by Mr Abid Adam, one of Chaudhary's friends, for him to be deported to India for treatment where he could be surrounded by his family. That request was referred to the Home Office by Judge Smith.
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