CPS praise victim after Shrewsbury stalking case
The victim of a woman who posed as a police officer in order to stalk him for almost three years has been praised for helping to bring her to justice.
Mitchell Lloyd's life was controlled by Lauren Adderley, with whom he had been in a brief relationship.
Adderley, 21, was jailed at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Friday, after pleading guilty to stalking and impersonating a police officer.
Today, the Crown Prosecution Service paid tribute to Mr Lloyd for helping to bring her to justice. The CPS said the case had a huge impact on his life and urged others victims of similar crimes to come forward.
Jason Corden-Bowen, district crown prosecutor and domestic abuse lead with West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Lauren Adderley created a complicated fiction of multiple fake profiles interacting with each other to her own satisfaction and reason.
"She used this sophisticated catfish style behaviour to completely manipulate the victim’s life, dictating when he could go out, where he could go and controlled his social interaction with other people for over two years.
“The impact her actions had on the victim’s life cannot be understated and I would like to pay tribute to him for helping bring Adderley to justice.
“We encourage anyone exposed to behaviour like this to report the matter. The Crown Prosecution Service views offending like this with the utmost gravity and will work to support you throughout the prosecution process. Please remember that any official correspondence with criminal justice partners should be through official channels such as secure e-mail.”
Adderley, of Sundorne Crescent, Shrewsbury, told Mr Lloyd during their relationship that she had been the victim of a sexual offence earlier in her life.
The victim encouraged the defendant to report that offence to the police and she agreed to, providing that he would act as a witness and give a supporting statement to the police.
Once he agreed she created a number of fake police e-mail accounts, pretending to be an investigating officer and a senior police officer.
Adderley also set up a number of fake social media and e-mail accounts for other witnesses whom she claimed had made statements, one of which purported to be the senior lawyer dealing with the offence.
She used all of the accounts to manipulate the victim into doing what she wanted under threat of financial and social ‘sanctions’ from the fake officers.
It was only when the victim referred the matter to a colleague at work, that he realised the e-mail accounts were not secure and that he should report the matter to the police.
Adderley was arrested and admitted the two charges.
She was handed a nine month prison sentence for stalking and four months’ imprisonment to be served concurrently for impersonating a police officer.
