11 years, 10 arrests, at least 62 women: how did Britain’s worst cyberstalker evade justice for so long?

Matthew Hardy so frightened some of his victims that they slept with weapons. Although he was known to the police - and even prosecuted - it was more than a decade before he was jailed

The conversations always started the same way. A woman would get a message from a social media user. It would say: Can I tell you a secret?" The messenger often, but not always, appeared to be a friendly young woman, peppering the conversation with words such as hun" and signing off with a kiss.

But the messenger would also claim to have information about the woman's life. The victim's partner was cheating on her; a friend was talking behind her back. If the woman blocked the anonymous messenger, another appeared. If the woman stopped responding, she would get incessant calls from someone breathing down the phone.