My stalker followed me on holiday and peered through bedroom window – but cruel twist has made ME feel like a prisoner | The Sun
CHECKING once again if her doors and windows are secure, Abby Furness can't believe this has become her new reality.
The OnlyFans model, 23, says she is scared to go out after her stalker of three years was released just hours into a 20-week sentence for breaking a restraining order.
Dancer Abby, from Brighton, has also revealed she’s had to give up performing in dark nightclubs after being haunted by nightmarish visions of stalker Jamie Spears.
In an emotional chat with The Sun, she said: "Right now I feel like I'm the one being punished. I've done nothing wrong but feel like a prisoner in my own home."
It is the second ordeal for Abby after she was also cyberstalked by Matthew Hardy, who was caged for nine years in 2022.
Former airport worker Spears, 34, was jailed on March 31 for the latest incidents in a three-year stalking campaign that has seen him tail Abby around her hometown and as far away as Ibiza.
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But due to time served on remand, he was back on the streets the same day.
Spears now wears a GPS tracker tag paired to a device Abby keeps with her 24-7, which alerts cops if he comes within 100 metres.
“My brain feels like mush, I feel exhausted all the time and my nerves are shot", she says.
“I get ready to go to the gym and psyche myself up, but then can’t face leaving the house.
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“Even going out to meet a friend for a coffee has become a massive deal for me.
“I’ve had to cut right back on nightclub work because my imagination runs riot – faces in the crowd on the dancefloor morph into Jamie’s.
“It’s like that Stephen King horror film, The Mist, where the monsters come out of the fog.”
Like a horror film
Abby’s nightmare began in the summer of 2020 when Spears tried to crash a birthday bash at her parents’ home in Kent.
After bombarding her with messages, he ignored her pleas to leave her alone, instead tailing her around shops in Brighton and appearing in the crowds when she performed in nightclubs.
The same summer, he followed Abby to Ibiza and had to be chased off the party island by her pals when he was spotted leering through the window of a bar.
Back in Brighton, he continued stalking Abby, resorting to wearing hats and bizarre disguises while hiding in bushes to spy on her.
Friends spotted the creep peering through Abby's bedroom window at her student flat in Brighton.
He was slapped with a stalking prevention order in February 2021 after he was discovered lurking in her shed.
But after breaching it twice he was jailed for 14 months the following October.
This January he was arrested again after twice entering areas of Brighton covered by his stalking ban.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 weeks on March 31.
Hove Crown Court heard how Spears – who has now racked up four convictions for 11 offences – was on a "quest to find true love" and didn’t understand his behaviour was unacceptable.
No escape from being watched
Abby fled to Thailand for an extended two-month holiday last October just two days after former Gatwick worker Spears was released from his previous jail sentence.
“I had to get away because at that point Spears was showing no signs of stopping,” she explained.
“I had an amazing time, it was the most care-free I’ve felt in years. I felt like I did when I was 18 or 19 before all this chaos started.”
But the horror continued within weeks of her return.
Abby said: “I posted something on social media that showed I was back in Brighton, and within 45 minutes Jamie turned up in one of the lanes near where I was living.
“The police were amazing. They were coming to the house literally every day to do welfare checks on me, but it left me with really bad paranoia and I literally couldn’t go outside.”
Police are again monitoring Spears’ whereabouts since his release.
“They can track his location on a map via this device on his ankle, and I’ve been given a ‘buddy’ tag which sends an alert if Jamie comes too close,” Abby explains.
“If the alarm goes off, they’ll come to wherever I am to check up on me.
“I do appreciate it, because if something were to happen they can come and help me, but it’s almost like I’m on tag as well.
“They say they want me to just live my life as usual, and I am trying, but I feel like I’ve got the jail sentence. I’m not really a free person.
“My parents have suggested I move back in with them but it’s not like I can go and hide out there because Jamie knows where they live, too.”
Abby fears she may only achieve true freedom by quitting the UK altogether.
“Sometimes I think it’s never going to stop unless I go somewhere far away,” she says.
“I’m already weighing up options and looking at places overseas where I can get a working visa and just be free to live my life.”
In the meantime, she’s hoping that Spears’ recent autism diagnosis might get him some new help.
“All I want is for him to get the help he needs to just leave me alone,” she added.
A spokesman for Sussex Police said of Spears: "He remains subject to a Stalking Protection Order, which has strict conditions aimed at limiting his movements and ability to offend.
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"This order is reviewed by a dedicated offender manager, with a trigger plan in place to ensure a 24/7 response to any reports of breaches or new intelligence.
"Subjects of Stalking Protection Orders are reviewed at monthly multi-agency meetings to monitor compliance and whether any further action is required."
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