Louise Minchin says ‘blood chilling’ stalking ordeal left family ‘prisoners’ in their home

Broadcaster Louise Minchin said she needed counselling after being stalked online by a man threatening her and her daughter.

The former BBC Breakfast presenter said it was “truly blood chilling” for her and her family to be threatened by the man and she was speaking out to help other victims cope.

In December, ex-soldier Carl Davies, 44, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for the harassment of Mrs Minchin and her family.

He sent threats to both Mrs Minchin’s and her teenage daughter Mia’s social media accounts in July 2020.

She told the Daily Telegraph the messages sent on Instagram were “so graphic” she has still not let her husband read them and at one point she considered quitting her job.

She said she expected a “certain amount of unpleasantness from strangers” because of her public profile but it was very different to being stalked by “a faceless stranger who wants to do you and your family serious harm”.

Mrs Minchin said the “vile and graphic” threats were even more terrifying because he seemed to know where she lived despite her being protective of her privacy.

She said: “Suddenly, here was this stranger who knew things you could never have got from just a Google search. The details he had about where I live was chilling - he could have only known them if he had been stood right outside my house. “I know where you live,” he wrote. “You’re not going to live there for much longer. I’m coming after you”.”

She said the ordeal left her family “prisoners in our own home” and in a constant “state of high alert” but the court case sent a “clear message that perpetrators don’t always stay anonymous - they can be prosecuted.”

She said: “Counselling has helped with some of those dreadful intrusive thoughts. Mia and I have both needed help to cope with what we’ve been through and are doing much better now, though it has left a mark.”