CORRIE’s Nicola Thorp has revealed that her “Grim Reaper” stalker was caught using “horrendous” photos he sent her.
Ravinderjit Dhillon, 30, used 25 different identities to target former soap star Nicola.
Nicola Thorp and her husband Nikesh Patel arriving at Snaresbrook Crown Court yesterdayRights reserved
Nicola opened up about her stalker hell on TalkTVPA
Yesterday she was in court with her husband Nikesh Patel as a judge handed Dhillon a 30-month jail sentence.
Speaking on TalkTV, Nicola described how she was stalked by an anonymous man online for two years.
In one message, the stalker said he was her “Grim Reaper”.
Nicola said: “He made horrendous rape threats, death threats and threats to my family. He sent photos of his genitalia.
“I found out yesterday one of the reasons why they caught him.
“They matched one of the photos of his genitals with what was going on in his bedroom when they actually raided his property to get his devices, because he initially denied that it was him.
“He said he’d lost his phone and they matched up the background of the photograph to his bedroom. So yeah, he’s been jailed.”
Dhillon was arrested in 2021 after Nicola went to the police – but her ordeal was not over.
She said: “I took this to the police after two long years of this harassment and said, ‘I want this to stop’.
“They arrested him and it was a heck of a long time until I was told his identity.
“And that meant that this man became everybody that I met.
“They wouldn’t even tell me if it was somebody that I knew, someone I worked with. They wouldn’t tell me if it was an ex-partner.”
TalkTV presenter Nicola is now campaigning to give victims of stalking more power.
She said: “I discovered in court yesterday that he’d been suffering with mental health issues for some time.
“And actually, a big part of what I wanted in terms of justice was not just a jail sentence.
“He’s also got a lifetime restraining order, which was great.
“He apologised via his barrister, and also the courts are going to ensure that he gets mental health support.
“I don’t want somebody being released back into society without mental health support .
“He’d suffered from various things that happened in his past, which doesn’t excuse it.”
STALKER JAILED
Nicola added she chose to attend Dhillon’s sentencing at Snaresbrook Crown Court so she could look him in the eye.
She said: “It was really important to me, largely because I felt a bit let down by the police service, to be honest.
“I think there can be a lack of communication sometimes between victims and certain police forces.
“I wanted to look him in the eye after two years.”
Sentencing Dhillon, Judge Rosa Dean said: “Over a period of two years you stalked Nicola Thorp between 2018 and 2020.
“You were finally arrested in December 2021. The investigation took some time and length, which highlights the difficulty of bringing perpetrators of this type to justice.”
Dhillon, of Feltham, West London, was found guilty of stalking involving fear of violence in April.
He was jailed for 30 months and also got a restraining order.
Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
