Former Coronation Street actress Nicola Thorp shared her harrowing experience of being stalked during an appearance on Good Morning Britain. The 35-year-old, known for her role as Nicola Rubinstein on the soap from 2017 to 2019, spoke candidly about the ordeal and its impact on her life.
Discussing a significant ruling on police handling of stalking cases, Nicola recounted the moment she was informed of her stalker’s arrest: “You’d think it would be a happy day when the police called me and said: ‘We’ve arrested him, we’ve found him.’ I was, I was elated, I said: ‘Who is it? Who is this man? ‘ and they said: ‘We can’t tell you! ‘” This revelation left host Kate Garraway visibly shocked as she responded: “That is terrifying!”
Nicola went on to describe the psychological toll the stalking took on her, saying: “So look, 90% of victims suffer psychological issues, how did it affect you and how bad did it get in terms of the terror?”
She emotionally disclosed the heightened fear following the arrest, explaining: “So I think it was after the arrest because as I know sadly all too well when an arrest happens or when there’s a chance someone carrying out this behaviour they might not be able to do it anymore a victim could be at further risk, there could be an increased risk to the victim.
“It was very disturbing to me that I didn’t know what this man looked like, I didn’t know his name, I didn’t know where he lived. I begged the police for months and months to just tell me, give me some information,” reports the Mirror.
“The most important thing for me was I wanted to know how tall he was, I wanted to know how much of a physical threat he could be and nothing for months until they eventually showed me a photograph, very fleetingly, of what he looked like.
“I actually had to go to court to find out what his name was so that, I think psychologically, was difficult because he then became everyone that I met.”
Host Adil Ray then highlighted: “The first time you saw him, this really hammers it home for me, was at the day you were both in the court. You were behind him in the queue?”
Nicola recounted the chilling moment at the courthouse with its ‘airport security system’, saying: “I was there just trying to focus on what was happening, I knew I was going to be reading out my victim impact statement. I was quite nervous and I just heard this man in front of me say the name and I froze, it was him, I was 30cm away from him.”
Nicola’s stalker, who adopted 25 different aliases to terrorise the actress over two harrowing years, was sentenced to 30 months in prison at East London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court last year.
If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. You can call the national stalking helpline on 0808 802 0300 or find more information here.
GMB is on ITV1 weekdays at 6am and on ITVX