The story caught the public's attention and I later turned it into a six-part Guardian podcast series, Can I Tell You a Secret?, which topped the UK podcast charts. It has now inspired a new, two-part Netflix documentary of the same name.
Hardy tormented people, mostly women, for years. He broke apart families, relationships and professional relationships. He sent nude photos of his victims to their work contacts. He called them late at night and breathed down the phone; when the women cried from stress and fear, he'd send them mocking messages. On one occasion he nearly wrecked a wedding. His victims were diagnosed with depression and anxiety. Nobody knows how many people Hardy targeted. Cheshire constabulary alone received more than 100 reports about him, resulting in 10 arrests and two restraining orders, over an 11-year period.
Hardy's crimes were memorably awful, but away from the true-crime podcasts and Netflix documentaries, stalking is an ordinary, unremarkable sort of crime - one that attracts scant attention from police and prosecutors. In fact, arguably stalking has been all but decriminalised in England and Wales, with devastating consequences: just 6.6% of reported stalkers are charged with a crime, and only 1.4% are convicted.
Denne historien er fra March 01, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Denne historien er fra March 01, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Starlink's conquest of the Amazon leaves Brazil in a dilemma
The helicopter swooped into one of the most inaccessible corners of the Amazon rainforest. Brazilian special forces commandos leaped from it into the caiman-inhabited waters below.
Dalai Lama's mountain town feels the strain of tourist boom
SUVs and saloon cars pass slowly along McLeod Ganj's narrow one-way Jogiwara Road, blaring horns at pedestrians and scooter riders and playing loud music.
'I am all the world' The brutal rule of a West Bank settler
Palestinians tell ofblacklisted Yakov's reign across the Jabal Salman valley and heisjust one of many violent bosses
Stormy waters New flashpoint emerges in South China Sea dispute
Hopes that tensions in the South China Sea might ease have been short lived.
'Justice delayed' Why trust in public inquiries to bring closure is fading
After the final report of the Grenfell fire inquiry was published, Hisam Choucair, who lost six family members in the blaze, said: \"We did not ask for this inquiry... It's delayed the justice my family deserves.\"
Celeriac soup with almond pangrattato
I'm not ashamed to say that as soon as September hits, my stick blender comes out. Just as I embrace salads when the clocks go forward in the UK, I wholeheartedly throw myself into soup season once the summer holidays end. Autumn is approaching in the northern hemisphere and I'm ready with my ladle. Celeriac is one of my favourite soup heroes, because it gives the creamiest, silkiest finish with little effort. You don't have to make the almond pangrattato, but it is a wonderful addition.
Are smoke signals telling me to make an oil change in the kitchen?
Should you that is, not can you) cook with extra-virgin olive oil? Antonio, Atlanta, Georgia, US
Going underground
A darkly humorous encounter between an American spy-cop and the members ofan eco-commune she is hired to infiltrate
All work and no play
Hard Graft, a powerfulnew London exhibition, focuses onworkers’ exploitation, from the ruined hands ofa washerwoman to mothers forced to sell their bodies
What the princess and the shaman tell us about hereditary privilege
It should have been an Instagram-perfect wedding image, but it turned out to be something more embarrassing.
