Laura Whitmore reveals stalker sent letters to her home

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Laura Whitmore has revealed her stalker sent threatening letters to her home address and it was "scary".

The former Love Island presenter opened up about her own personal experience in the latest episode of her ITV2 series Laura Whitmore Investigates. She confessed she did not even realise she was a victim of stalking at the time. But she revealed that when she went to police to explain that she was being threatened by someone using a fake social media profile she did not feel she was taken seriously.

What, how, and why?

Whitmore revealed in the third and final episode of her investigative documentary series that she was left feeling frightened when her stalker made contact at her home address. The TV presenter spoke about her own stalking experience as she met other victims, as well as a police department specially trained to investigate stalking offences.

Whitmore, 38, said: "I haven't told many people this but I was the victim of a stalking incident. I was receiving threatening letters to my work place and eventually got correspondence to the letterbox at my home, which makes it feel a lot more real. The perpetrator actually set up some fake online accounts and this was years ago, social media wasn't as big as it is now. I didn't really know it was stalking or what it was, I just knew it was scary."

The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant met with the specialist stalking investigation team at Cheshire Police, who admitted that police support in stalking cases can be a 'postcode lottery'.

Whitmore said: "I had an issue once and I went to the police and the police officer who came out had no idea what I was talking about when I was trying to talk about IP addresses. And there was a profile picture and they were like 'That's the person,' and I was like, 'No that's not the real picture.' And I had that as my first point of contact and I went, 'You know what? I cant be a**ed with this.' That's how I felt."

What else happened on Laura Whitmore Investigates?

Whitmore - who now lives with her young daughter and Love Island narrator husband Iain Stirling - admitted she was torn between making her life public on social media for the sake of her celebrity profile, and protecting her privacy.

She said: "There's kind of an expectation I guess if you have a public profile that this behaviour will come with the territory." The Celebrity Juice star went on: "I have this conflict of interest sometimes, of wanting my profile out there for my career, but also wanting that protection. I think everyone has that."

After being told by an expert about how a phone can easily be cloned if an ID is not secured by a strong password and two-step authentication, Whitmore confessed she felt vulnerable.

She revealed: "Even with my partner or old housemates we shared so much - passwords of smart devices in the home they'd have access to. Or delivery services or any of those online apps. I can't believe that they [passwords] could be used to target you. That's why it's so important to change your passwords regularly and know who has access to those parts of your life."

Whitmore confessed: "When I started making this documentary, to be honest with you I started to feel anxious, quite overwhelmed because cyberstalking is so vast. But I think the one thing that is so important is how we can protect our digital footprint."

All episodes of Laura Whitmore Investigates is now available to stream on ITVX.

Read more: Laura Whitmore

• Laura Whitmore recounts her 'scary' stalking incident with 'threatening letters' (The Northern Echo, 2 min read)

• Laura Whitmore reveals her 'terrifying' stalker experience  (Cosmo, 3 min read)

• BDSM, Incels, Cyber Stalking Investigated in Former ‘Love Island’ Presenter Laura Whitmore (Variety, 2 min read)