Smitten Mike Evans thought he had found the love of his life in Alexandra Fry.
The pretty mum of two was good fun and loving and she supported him through the torment of being sent abusive messages by a mystery stalker, writes Gareth Morgan in the Sunday People .
The harassment had begun while they were still just friends, then continued after they began dating and had a baby daughter together.
When they split up, the text and online vendetta grew ever more sinister.
Mike’s new partner, family and their bosses were bombarded with thousands of messages implying he could not be trusted around children, was a thief and love rat.
The stalker even tried to trick Mike into thinking his little daughter Eva, born with cerebral palsy , had died.
And police investigating the source of the abuse were taunted with dozens of messages saying they would never catch the culprit.
But cops succeeded in bringing the three-year campaign of hate to an end and told Mike the awful truth – that his secret stalker was Alexandra.
She had used different online addresses, pay-as-you-go phones and throwaway sim cards to cover her tracks while hammering out her torrent of bile.
Mike, 37, said: “It was non-stop.
“She must have been doing it for hours a day.”
Alexandra was taken to court, given a suspended jail sentence and hit with restraining orders.
She was also referred to mental health experts – but it was Mike’s mind that was left in turmoil as he tried to piece his shattered life back together.
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday People, he said: “She was my best friend and I thought I was going to be with her for ever.
“When the truth unravelled I could not believe it.”
Mike, of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, first met Alexandra in July 2012 through his old job in IT.
At the time he was in a relationship so they were only friends.
Within months he began getting messages accusing him of messing women around and threatening him with violence.
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His girlfriend also received anonymous claims that he was cheating on her.
The stress of it all led to the relationship breaking up and Mike started to confide more and more in Alex.
By October 2013 they were dating and baby Eva was born in November the following year.
But their stormy relationship came to an end just six months later.
In June last year Mike started seeing Kayleigh Gyde and the abuse became more frequent.
He and dozens of people linked to him received up to 5,000 messages from different email addresses or made-up Facebook profiles.
Mike’s mother Lorraine also got explicit photos which were said to be of him and another girl.
Kayleigh’s mother and grandparents received emails warning them about his sordid and criminal past – all lies.
Explicit photos and messages were sent to Kayleigh’s council office work.
The nursery where Kayleigh’s sister Kira worked was sent messages alleging Mike could not be trusted around children.
The sickest blow came on New Year’s Eve last year when Mike got a message saying Eva had died.
Panic-stricken, he contacted Alexandra – who had been making it increasingly difficult to see his daughter – only to find out it was another lie.
A ten-month investigation by Avon and Somerset Police eventually saw Alexandra unmasked as being the sender of all the hateful messages.
In court the 40-year-old pleaded guilty to three charges of stalking and was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison, suspended for two years.
She was also banned from contacting Mike, Kayleigh and Mike’s mum for the same period.
Ventilation firm boss Mike, who now lives with Kayleigh and is fighting for custody of Eva, said: “I still don’t know why she started doing this.
“She told the court she went loopy due to the end of the relationship, but that doesn’t explain the messages before we even started dating.
“They’d been going on two years before we even split.
“I think it started out as one thing but turned into an obsession.”
1m targeted as calls rise
Online stalking is on the increase, with more than a million British adults claiming to have been targeted for a year or more.
The British Crime Survey 2015 found 4.9 per cent of all females aged 16 to 59 and 2.4 per cent of men have suffered from harassment for over 12 months.
That works out at 1.1million people – yet official figures show vast numbers of incidents are going unreported.
A Freedom of Information request put in to police forces across Britain by charity the Suzy Lamplugh Trust found just 7,706 recorded cases of stalking between 1 April 2013 and February 2016.
Meanwhile, a study of 4,000 adults conducted by YouGov earlier this year found 18 per cent of women and eight per cent of men had been stalked at some point.
Last year the National Stalking Helpline received 6,500 calls or emails seeking help and advice – more than it was able to answer.
