Top Scottish TV presenter Natalie Pike has revealed how she bravely turned detective to catch her own stalker during a terrifying eight-month ordeal.
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she → reveal → ordeal
The former model, 43, managed to secure a conviction against the man who had been secretly following her, contacting her friends and even stalking her at work.
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who → manage → work
Edinburgh-born Ms Pike – who works for the BBC and Manchester City’s TV channel – turned amateur sleuth to snare the stalker and now hopes her story will help other victims.
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story → bear → victims
The presenter, who covered Scotland’s World Cup campaign in Boston this summer, revealed that in February this year two men had parked outside her local hair salon in a van, told staff they knew she was a customer and demanded to know where she lived.
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she → cover → staff
It prompted a string of frantic phone calls from her hairdresser to both the TV presenter and her son’s school.
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Ms Pike began investigating who the men could be and discovered a series of increasingly sinister Instagram messages in a previously hidden message folder, from a man she didn’t follow or recognise.
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she → begin → man
The messages spanned the previous 18 months.
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messages → span → months
Natalie Pike said cheering on Scotland in Boston was a welcome relief from her stalking ordeal
The broadcaster is a regular at the Etihad stadium where she reports on Manchester City
She said: ‘They began in the usual way: ‘Happy Birthday’, ‘You’re beautiful’, that kind of thing.
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You → say → thing
Then they started deteriorating.
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they → start → ?
So I took a screenshot of this person’s profile, sent it to my hairdresser and she instantly confirmed it was the same man she had seen.’
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she → take → hairdresser
A week later on February 21, she was at Manchester City’s Etihad stadium working on a pitchside broadcast when she saw a man standing close to the barriers, staring at her.
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man → work → her
It was the man she’d seen on Instagram who had turned up at her hairdresser.
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who → see → hairdresser
The incident prompted a panic attack and she immediately had to contact the police.
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she → prompt → police
She said: ‘I ran up to the public address announcer’s room, and I had my first experience of a panic attack.
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I stood in the corner, burst out crying and I just couldn’t catch my breath.
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Police took it seriously and through the stadium CCTV they were able to pinpoint him.’
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they → take → him
She said the footage of the man’s approach towards her was ‘harrowing to watch’.
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footage → say → her
‘He never took his eyes off me.
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He came in at the back of the stand and then over a 20-minute period, moved down and stopped several times until he was about a metre away from me.’
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he → come → me
Ms Pike praised the police response, saying they ‘immediately took it seriously’, arresting the man the next morning and taking her statement.
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they → praise → statement
The presenter later discovered he had been messaging her best friend and other people she knew, had photographs of himself sitting at the pub round the corner from her home and even had images on his phone of her ex-husband’s car.
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she → discover → car
When she decided to tell her family, Ms Pike faced even more turmoil after her mum, suffering from stage 4 bowel cancer, collapsed on hearing the news.
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mum → decide → news
She said: ‘I scrambled an ambulance and she ended up in hospital for five weeks.
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she → say → weeks
The stalking came on top of an incredibly difficult year for my family, magnifying the pressure and anxiety.’
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stalking → come → pressure
As she waited for court proceedings to conclude, Ms Pike was asked by the Scottish FA to go to Boston and said the opportunity gave her some breathing space.
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opportunity → wait → space
In a post on social media yesterday, the broadcaster thanked her parents, friends and Manchester City for their support and revealed she had been helped by anti-stalking charity the Suzy Lamplugh Trust with counselling and specialist support.
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she → thank → counselling
Encouraging others to contact the charity, she said: ‘I want anyone who is experience stalking to know that support is available.
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support → encourage → charity
I know the statistics can make frightening reading, but please don’t let that stop you from reporting what is happening and asking for help.
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what → know → help
Her stalker pleaded guilty to stalking involving serious alarm or distress, and was given an 18-month custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months.
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stalker → plead → months
He was also handed a restraining order banning him from contacting her.
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He → hand → her
The Aporia
