"For years, Jenny* thought it was odd how her ex-partner always seemed to be at the front gate to her house when someone came to meet her. She had broken free of the abusive relationship, but he still managed to remain present in whatever she was going, or who she was meeting. Living in a small village, and him still living close by, she understood people bump into each other - but almost every day?"
"I only caught him by sending an test email to a friend, saying I'm going to run away. He went absolutely ape, and then I knew. It was horrifying, realising I'd been under his surveillance for years. The former couple had been together 10 years. She was grieving over the loss of someone close, and, with charm and politeness, he befriended her quickly, soon moving into her home before promising a new start with the joint opening of a business in a rural village."
Jenny noticed her ex-partner repeatedly waiting at her front gate whenever visitors arrived. She had left an abusive relationship but he remained present and questioned her visitors. He had access to a shared email account from a business they ran and used it for two years to monitor her, impersonate her, send rude messages and stalk and harass her. She discovered the surveillance after sending a test email to a friend and seeing his reaction. The couple had been together ten years; he moved in, helped start a business, then became controlling over family, friendships and finances and the relationship turned abusive. Police recorded 49,268 offences of coercive control in England and Wales in the year ending March 2025.
Read at www.independent.co.uk
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