Teenager, 17, stalked by driving instructor, 52, after he 'fell in love with her'

A teenager was "petrified" after her driving instructor turned into an obsessive stalker - creating a TikTok dedicated to her, paying dark web hackers to access her socials and travelling across England to her university unannounced.

Graham Mansie, 52, was earlier this month given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to stalking his former pupil Maisie Relph, 19.

A court heard earlier this month how he became obsessed with the then 17-year-old while he taught her how to drive in Bromley.

She said initially she had no worries about his behaviour, but after her 18th birthday, he changed.

Mansie asked the teenager out for drinks and created a TikTok account called ‘For Maisie’ which featured a red heart emoji and the bio "my favourite".

When Relph failed her first driving test Mansie began to cry, which Relph said made he feel "really awkward."

He taught around 15 of her friends to drive and gave another student a gift bag to pass on to her.

When the victim blocked Mansie on all social media and stopped learning how to drive with him, his car was spotted on her road.

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Relph, a psychology in education student from Bromley, south-east London, said: “It was a nightmare I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

“I want to raise awareness because I’d have stopped my lessons much sooner if I’d read a story like this.

“In my lessons he used to say things like: ‘oh I’ll add that to the file’, and I always thought it was a joke but now I wonder if he did have a file on me."

He didn't stop even after she moved to York for university - creating a fake Instagram to follow her and joined a WhatsApp group for her halls of residence.

Eventually, he turned up in the city and was arrested soon after Relph's father called him and accused him of being a pervert.

“I was absolutely petrified," Maisie said. "He knew exactly where I was.

“It was really scary! I slept in my flatmates’ rooms I was so scared.

“They walked with me everywhere so I wasn’t ever alone. I’m so lucky they were so supportive and caring.

“I was really really worried."

Relph changed her clothing and cut her hair into a bob after the police advised she change how she looked when Mansie was on bail.

When interviewed, he also confessed to police he had used the dark web and paid people hundreds of pounds to try to hack into her social media accounts.

At his sentencing, he was told to complete 30 rehabilitation days and visit the Stalking Threat Assessment Centre to get help.

And he was banned from contacting the victim for the rest of his life and told to pay the court £300 in costs and a £128 victim surcharge.

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The court was told he has already breached his bail conditions twice by contacting her on Instagram and WhatsApp.

Relph said she was happy he was getting support rather than being sent to jail saying "I'd only be worrying about when he gets out, and they said he'll go to prison for five years if he breaks the order so I feel pretty confident he'll stick to it."

Denise Clewes, prosecuting, told the court during Mansie's sentencing: “In September 2021 she moved to York. He managed to join a WhatsApp Group for her halls of residence with a profile for an 18-year-old boy.

“He befriended all her hall mates.

“He used the dark web to ask people to hack into her private messages to see what he was doing. He lost hundreds of pounds trying to do this."

After being arrested Maisie went missing for two days.

Relph added: "He’s not a bad person, but [...] he’s absolutely obsessed, and he needs help not punishment.

“I’m still worried about what he could do next - people can have stalkers for years.

"Emily Maitlis has had one for 25 years who has been in and out of prison.

"It’s a fixation and an obsession, and going in and out of prison doesn’t help, and we’d be better off investing in some kind of treatment."