Nicola Thorp's stalker who called himself the 'grim reaper' faces jail

Coronation Street star Nicola Thorp’s stalker who called himself the ‘grim reaper’ as he used 25 different identities to target her in two-year campaign faces years in jail

• Ravinderjit Dhillon, 30, used 25 online aliases to torment the actress
• He was convicted of stalking involving fear of violence after a trial in April

Coronation Street star Nicola Thorp’s stalker who called himself the ‘grim reaper’ and terrorised her for two-years faces years in jail.

Ravinderjit Dhillon, 30, used 25 aliases to torment the actress online and threatened to choke and rape her.

In a prepared statement Dhillon told Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court he didn’t know Nicola or anything about her, but he was convicted of stalking involving fear of violence after a trial in April.

Nicola was praised for her courage by magistrates who sent the case to the crown court for sentencing. 

The 34-year-old was at court with her actor fiancé Nikesh Patel and she told how she gave the Met Police a document containing details of the harassment she faced.

Coronation Street star Nicola Thorp’s stalker who called himself the ‘grim reaper’ and terrorised her for two-years faces years in jail

The 34-year-old was at court with her actor fiancé Nikesh Patel (right) and she told how she gave the Met Police a document containing details of the harassment she faced

The document outlined how Dhillon’s campaign began in October 2018 by sending her an obscene picture of himself. 

She said he became an ‘army of men’ threatening to rape her, the ‘cost’ for spending her adult life fighting for women’s rights in the public eye, adding: ‘I became the target of the exact behaviour I was standing up against.’

She said: ‘I’ve spent most of my adult life fighting for the rights of women and doing so in the public eye has come with some personal cost.

‘I became the target of the exact behaviour I was standing up against.

‘Dhillon became an army of men all wanting to do me harm, threats to rape me, choke me.’

Nicola told the court Dhillon sent her a message via Instagram that said ‘a woman’s place was on her knees’.

‘He told me I was to be put in a headlock and forced into sexual acts and wanted to make my parents watch.

‘He sent me messages saying, ‘I’m going to be with you forever’, he said, ‘I’m your grim reaper’ and in one message alone he said 28 times he ‘wasn’t going to leave me.

‘He said alleyways are the perfect place to pick up drunk stupid women and stupid 16-year-old b**ches.’

Thorp announced her engagement to fiancé Nikesh Patel in January this year

Nicola announced she was dating Hollywood actor Nikesh in October 2021

Nicola said he also masqueraded as a woman called ‘Helena’ asking for her advice as she was being harassed by an employer, so he could interact with her.

Dhillon also contacted her on social media claiming one of his friends followed her onto a train ‘and had got so close to her he could smell her.’

Nicola told the court: ‘As a freelancer I work in different locations, I would have to inform each site [to keep an eye on] anyone who was asking for me and to keep a look out on my behalf.

‘The longevity of his online stalking wore me down. This was no ‘one off’ and that terrified me.’

Prosecutor Sondos Arafa told the court: ‘Her voice is shaking just from the sheer impact of someone stalking her for two years.

‘This is aggravated by the offensive material sent to the victim at the time of the offence and the impact of the offence.

‘It is motivated by the hostility against the victim’s sex.’

Dhillon’s IP address was finally linked by police to the accounts he used to harass Nicola and he was arrested.

Nicola said she did not learn of Dhillon’s true identity until his first court appearance on 14 February last year.

Nicola told the court Dhillon sent her a message via Instagram that said ‘a woman’s place was on her knees’ 

Nicola said she did not learn of Dhillon’s true identity until his first court appearance on 14 February last year

Nicola rose to fame after going public with her complaint against a major accountancy firm who fired the star for refusing to wear heels.

She later petitioned for a ban on dress codes that force women to wear high heels.

Nicola starred on the long-running ITV soap Coronation Street from 2017 to 2019, playing social worker Nicola Rubinstein, who was the estranged daughter of serial killer Pat Phelan.

She became the first star to get caught in Channel Four’s Celebrity Hunted, in aid of Stand Up For Cancer, in April this year when she was found at a Birmingham hotel after going on the run with her boyfriend Nikesh.

In court, she told how he sent her messages saying he was her ‘grim reaper’ and told her he wouldn’t leave it 28 times in a single message. 

She added that he claimed to be a woman called ‘Helena’ and said a friend had followed her on to a train’.

Dhillion, of Feltham, Middlesex, was remanded in custody ahead of sentence at Isleworth Crown Court on 10 July. 

The maximum penalty for stalking involving fear of violence of violence is 10 years. 

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