Cambridgeshire woman shares harrowing experience with stalker who broke her nose and hand

Using a pseudonym, the police share the story of the mum, who found herself trapped with her abuser during the Covid-19 lockdowns. The man became violent and broke the woman’s nose and hand – later going on to repeatedly follow and threaten her.

Maria’s Story

For Maria* stalking changed everything. After her relationship ended, her former partner’s persistent and unwanted behaviour left her feeling frightened, trapped and unsafe. Her experience reflects the reality for many victims, where everyday life is reshaped by fear and control.

“Today I turn 45 years old – today my life changes,” Maria said to her daughter as they set off on holiday to Malta. It was her first real sense of freedom after ending an abusive 18‑month relationship.

The abuse took place during the Covid lockdowns, a period that made it especially difficult for Maria to ask her partner to leave - particularly as he had nowhere else to go.

“When I first met him, he was a chatty, friendly customer at the café where I worked,” she recalled. “He would tell me I looked nice - but he became abusive and violent. He broke my nose and he broke my hand.”

In 2021, Maria discovered her partner had got another woman pregnant. It was the final straw. She told him the relationship was over and asked him to remove his belongings from her home.

However, ending the relationship did not bring the ordeal to an end.

Around a year after her holiday to Malta, Maria found happiness in a new relationship - and it was then that her former partner reappeared.

He began calling and messaging her relentlessly. At first, the messages claimed he missed her, but they quickly became abusive. When Maria blocked his number, he contacted her using friends’ phones and fake social media accounts.

In 2023, his behaviour escalated further when he sent her an explicit image of himself.

“I felt disgusted,” she said.

Over the following year, the behaviour intensified and became increasingly frightening.

The man knew Maria’s routine - including her regular visits to a café in Peterborough before work. In November 2024, Maria saw him sitting in his car outside the café as she left.

Terrified, she ran back inside and asked a friend to watch her as she walked to her own car.

“He wound down the window and said, ‘Ha! You’re going to see,’” she said. “I took that as a threat.”

CCTV footage later showed that after Maria had left the café and driven off, he followed her in his car - just two seconds behind.

“When I got to work, I broke down in tears,” she said. “My boss was incredibly supportive.”

In the days that followed, the stalking continued. He followed Maria from the café to her workplace, becoming more aggressive - beeping his horn, flashing his headlights, and shouting abuse from his car window which led to her dialling 999.

“I was shaking with fear. I couldn’t sleep. I had panic attacks whenever I went out, terrified of bumping into him,” she said.

Officers located her stalker close to the café and arrested him for stalking. He was later sentenced to one year in prison.

With him behind bars, Maria has been able to reflect on just how deeply the stalking affected her life.

She had changed jobs, avoided familiar places, shopped in different parts of the city and rarely stayed in her own home.

“I only felt safe when I was with my boyfriend or my daughter,” she said. “I couldn’t be at home on my own. I stayed at my boyfriend’s most of the time because I was terrified my ex‑partner would approach me, shout abuse or assault me again.”

Now, Maria wants her story to encourage others to seek help.

“I’m not scared anymore,” she said. “I would urge anyone going through this to call the police. I am very happy with how they helped me. Now I can say my life has changed. I am free.”

*Not the woman’s real name