My stalker even followed me up a mountain... now I'm scared he won't stop until he kills me

AS the figure in the mist slowly loomed into focus, Katherine's breath caught in her throat.

- BY EMMELINE SAUNDERS

She was halfway up a mountain — and following just a few hundred metres behind was her stalker ex.

John Hall had already been arrested several times since they split. He had harassed her for months by endlessly calling, texting and turning up at Katherine’s flat at all hours.

But things were about to get even more demented as he stalked her up England’s third highest peak in the fog.

Despite bail conditions forbidding him from going near Katherine, he found her walking up 3,117ft Helvellyn in the Lake District, where she had gone on holiday with friends.

Terrified

Recalling the September 2024 incident, Katherine says: "My legs turned to jelly. I was absolutely terrified.

"He kept staring at me. He followed me for seven hours as we hiked the trail, then sat in the boot of his car and waited while me and my friends went into the pub to get away from him."

Hours later, Katherine's friends escorted her back to her car. But as soon as she pulled out on to the road, Hall set off after her.

Katherine dialled 999 and was told to drive to a police station. Hall was later in custody for four weeks.

He pleaded guilty to stalking, and magistrates gave him a restraining order.

But Hall simply ignored it - as he has ignored many others - and even broke his electronic tag and sent Katherine a picture of it.

To date, she has called the police more than 40 times about Hall and fears he will never stop.

In a bid to throw him off the trail, Katherine has quit her job and given up her flat to move in to a women's refuge 25 miles away from her friends and family - but Hall's behaviour has left her a nervous wreck.

In the four years since Katherine met Hall, he has been arrested 24 times and jailed three times for stalking her.