'I felt immense shame' One man's experience of a female stalker

Not long after he embarked on an on/ off dalliance with an former colleague, Tom began feeling uneasy about her behaviour . He ended things – but that only made matters worse.

- Esther Addley

She turned up randomly at places where he hung out and “appearing seemingly everywhere I went”, he said. “ I felt hounded, and I had no idea what to do.”

He agreed to rekindle their relationship, with boundaries. “That was a terrible mistake,” said Tom (not his real name). One day, she tracked him down while he was travelling in London, and chased him through the underground, sexually assaulting him on a carriage. “It was the first time in my life I had to sprint away from someone out of fear,” he said.

She followed him to his flat and tried to force her way in. He told her he never wanted to see her again, hoping that would be the end of it.