Cyberstalker set out to destroy me but Wagatha Christie inspired me to find him
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IT looked as if Abby Furness was living her dream life as she posed for pictures in exotic locations.
But in reality, the singer’s world was slowly crumbling around her.
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Like Coleen Rooney, the 24-year-old had fallen victim to someone who was exploiting her via social media.
But it was not one of her inner circle who was betraying her trust — instead a cyberstalker hell-bent on destroying her closest relationships.
Abby, from Brighton, first realised she was being targeted in 2019 after Matthew Hardy, dubbed Britain’s worst-ever cyberstalker, launched a year-long hate campaign that saw her lose her job, boyfriend and most of her friends.
To find out who was behind the fake accounts impersonating her, Abby took inspiration from Wag Coleen, 37.
The wife of former footballer Wayne Rooney famously used her private Instagram to investigate who was sharing false stories about her and her family.
It ended in her Wagatha Christie High Court battle with fellow Wag Rebekah Vardy, which Coleen won.
Abby, who tells her harrowing story in new Netflix docuseries Can I Tell You A Secret?, says: “Wagatha Christie was my inspiration — I kept thinking that the stalking would stop but it just got worse and worse.
“Fake accounts were sharing horrible lies, and even nude photos of me. It hit a point where enough was enough.”
Abby had just returned to the UK after living and working in Ibiza with her boyfriend when a friend messaged asking if she had been contacting her from a new number.
Abby assumed it was a one-off.
But she soon started receiving messages from fake social media accounts claiming to belong to people close to her, saying they knew secrets about her private life.
Online accounts were also made in Abby’s name, using her hacked private photos.
To her horror, whoever was behind the accounts then began sending flirty messages to partners of her friends and family.
She says: “I felt dread throughout my whole body.
“I was so angry and upset.
“But I was mainly really embarrassed, even though I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong.”
Abby’s boyfriend had been told by a fake account that she had cheated on him, and dumped her, while friends who believed she had been trying it on with their partners turned on her.
She was even forced to quit her job after her boss revealed he had been sent private photos from a nude modelling shoot she had done.
She says: “I felt there was no-where else to turn.
It seemed like they were always one step ahead of me
Abby Furness
“My friends struggled to believe me when I told them what was happening, let alone help me get to the bottom of it.
“Family turned against me too, but my mum always stood by me.
“She told me to look into the Wagatha Christie case and as I started reading what Coleen had done, I wondered if I could also find out who was behind the fake accounts sending all these horrible messages.
“Just like Coleen, I started selecting groups of followers at a time to put on my ‘close friends’ list.
“I’d then keep track of who was watching what story and put up false information, just to see who would bite.
“Over about a month I got through hundreds of people with this secret mission.
“But it didn’t lead anywhere or give me any clues as to who was responsible.
“It seemed like they were always one step ahead of me.”
Abby, who also works as a fire-eater, adds: “I had a mental picture of who it could be.
“I was sure it was a girl — some awful, petty girl, like the ones I’d met at university who used to pick on me.
“I’d never have guessed my stalker could be a person I’d never met, let alone Matthew Hardy.”
In 2020, a few months into her ordeal, Abby was preparing to go on a girls’ holiday in Ibiza when she received a chilling message that read: “You need to be very careful. Beware.”
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She says: “I was really scared. I felt like it was a threat and that I was in danger.
“I was scared I was going to get hurt.”
At this point, she finally called the police, but says she was made to feel like she was wasting their time, so she took things no further.
She says: “Some of my closest friends and family still didn’t believe it wasn’t me doing all of this.
“They said I was bringing drama into their life, that it was my fault and something I should be ashamed of or embarrassed about.
“I kept being told if I spoke to the police nobody would listen — that I was this silly little girl who put herself on social media and it was my own fault
“Then when I did pluck up the courage to get help from the police, they wouldn’t help me.”
But during an Instagram Live in Ibiza, Abby had a breakthrough when she spotted someone named Matthew Hardy in the comments section.
She says: “It was weird to me because I recognised all the other people in the live, but not this name.
“I copied and pasted it into Facebook and immediately a profile came up.”
Incredibly, Hardy had sent her a message.
Abby recalls: “All it said was, ‘It was all me’.
“And then he blocked me. It’s like he was trying to provoke me and get a reaction.
Matthew completely trashed everything good that people thought of me
Abby Furness
“It was only when I first saw Matthew’s name crop up that I suspected it could be a man — and a man that I didn’t even know and had never seen before.
“Until then, it was never a possibility in my mind. I was convinced it was someone I knew.”
Even after Abby finally managed to get hold of Hardy’s name, she says it was difficult to get the police involved in the case and to confirm whether his phone number matched her fake profile.
But an investigation led by PC Kevin Anderson of the Cheshire Constabulary finally put Hardy behind bars.
In 2022, with the help of Abby’s story and accounts from 62 other women he had targeted, Hardy pleaded guilty to three counts of stalking with intent to cause alarm or distress, two counts of stalking without intent to cause alarm and breaching an earlier restraining order from 2013, which barred him from using fake information on social networking sites.
He was jailed for nine years — the longest sentence ever handed down to a cyberstalker in the UK.
Hardy, from Northwich, Cheshire, had spent a total of 11 years tormenting “hundreds” of women online.
Although her stalker was jailed, Abby’s ordeal has had long-lasting consequences.
She is still trying to rebuild friendships and repair relationships with her family.
She says: “My reputation had been ruined.
“Matthew completely trashed everything good that people thought of me.
“Even to people who knew me, suddenly I was painted in a horrible light.
“Before all this happened, I couldn’t relate to friends who suffered from anxiety and depression at all.
I do feel like I’m slowly getting my happiness back
Abby Furness
“I’d grown up in a really safe environment and was so happy-go-lucky and free-spirited.
“But now I know exactly how they feel.
“When Matthew set out to destroy my life, it sent me on to a path of spiralling destruction which I’m going to feel for ever.”
Since the Netflix docuseries about Abby’s ordeal launched this week, it has shot to No1 around the world.
For Abby, there is a sense of relief and gratitude for the “overwhelming support” she and the other victims have received from viewers.
She says: “It honestly means the world and it makes me feel stronger than I ever thought I would feel.
“I do feel like I’m slowly getting my happiness back.
“And while I’m never going to be the same Abby again, at least I have the power of speaking my truth.”
- Can I Tell You A Secret? is available to stream on Netflix now.
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