Some Respite

Another apology

During the past two years, an aortic dissection has left my mum paraplegic and put her under long-term NHS care, and my dad has died.

These terrible events have been made worse because our family has been subjected to what a CID detective in court at the inquest into my father’s death described as “a campaign of constant harassment and abuse” by a stalker.

Because of this campaign, my dad died alone. Because of this campaign, we were forced to cancel his funeral. Because of this campaign, the awful physical and mental suffering my mother has endured was compounded by her experiencing the fear that her own son had died or been imprisoned for the rest of her life, not once but twice.

That campaign included my being attacked by the stalker, but then arrested and locked up after a false assault accusation; my being investigated for the “murder” of my father and of my mother—who is still alive and well cared for; my having utilities cut off to my home because of false accusations of fraud; and our stalker ringing and messaging friends and relatives, colleagues and clients, police, social services, school and health and church authorities to make defamatory accusations or to verbally abuse front-line workers. If you follow me here or elsewhere on social media, some of you might even have seen our stalker’s public abusive messages, usually accusing me of being a killer.

Yesterday, I was informed that the perpetrator is under “mandatory care” in a psychiatric hospital.

I already suspected that something like this might have happened, because there had been a break in call attempts from our stalker’s number appearing on the call-blocking application I use; on one line alone, I typically receive five to twenty per day, every day.

I want to apologise, first of all, to people who subscribed to this substack when I started it, when I had no idea that all this horror was imminent, for my being chronically distracted by all of this (and distracted by all of the other fallout that inevitably accompanies serious family illnesses and deaths).

I would also like to apologise to anyone who has suffered collateral damage from the stalker’s actions against us. If we have not discussed it before, feel free to contact me so that I can apologise to you in person, and so your experience can be included in the ongoing police investigation.

I’d like to thank all the friends and family who have helped us through the past few months.

Despite the heroic efforts of other individuals—part of our stalker’s M.O. has been to bring formal charges of professional misconduct against public servants who, for example, have cleared me of vexatious criminal accusations—we have been let down by multiple institutions. So I have no illusions that our stalker will remain in custody permanently or will stop the campaign; but, for now, we’re all grateful for this peace.