- 3 months ago
Social Media Monsters
Social Media Monsters (2025) S01E02
Social Media Monsters (2025) Season 1 Episode 2
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Listen guys, have a really good night and I'll speak to you all soon. Bye!
00:08She posted that I'd been sentenced to nine years in prison for stalking her.
00:15Her posts have always had this sort of narrative as if she is the victim, that we're stalking her.
00:22Online harassment is really vicious. They can ruin people's lives.
00:34Messages just started appearing that I tried to ruin her life, that I tried to poison her cat, that we didn't pay our taxes.
00:42It was just relentless. I just felt just so sad about her.
00:48You cannot defend yourself.
00:53Thousands of posts aimed at dismantling a person's reputation. This is somebody that I met for 30 seconds.
01:00Ironically, they became worse after we went to the place.
01:08I didn't know what she might do next. I didn't know what she was capable of.
01:13It's cruel. It's manipulative. It's incredibly upsetting.
01:18At some point she's got to stop, surely.
01:22But it didn't.
01:23I'm the CEO and founder of a marketing agency based in Manchester.
01:24Essentially, we build relationships with clients, creating websites, creating brands, running campaigns,
01:28I had a client that had some social media requirements.
01:30I was introduced or recommended.
01:31I'm the CEO and founder of a marketing agency based in Manchester.
01:33I'm the CEO and founder of a marketing agency based in Manchester.
01:34Essentially, we build relationships with clients, creating websites, creating brands, running campaigns.
01:39I had a client that had some social media requirements. I was introduced or recommended to Sam.
01:44So, as Sam started in a freelance capacity and worked, I actually cannot remember how long it was for, but it was certainly a short period of time.
01:57Sam Wall was a 45-year-old social media strategist from Stockport.
02:18Only me. I hate doing videos, so this is like, whoa.
02:27She'd built up a 30,000 strong following across her different accounts and was well known in the busy Manchester agency scene where temporary short-term contracts are common.
02:37I was recruiting for a similar role and that person joined the agency. We didn't need Sam any longer and she left.
02:49And then completely out of the blue, messages just started appearing that were just shockingly slanderous about me and about the agency and about the people, the way we worked, our ethics, our values.
03:03That I tried to ruin her life, that I tried to poison her cat, that I put tracking devices on her laptop, that we'd broken into her house, that we'd staged a burglary at the agency, that we didn't pay our taxes.
03:18It was just relentless.
03:20Yeah, things are going better than I expected, really.
03:26You just felt mortified and just, oh, she's not letting this go. It's just not ever going to stop. And you, erm, I felt powerless because I thought it was just happening to me.
03:45Erm, and it was, I just, I just, I just felt just so sad about it all.
03:52The former contractor is waging a relentless online campaign, gaslighting Justine across Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
04:12It just brings it all back.
04:19But to her followers, Sam Wall is presenting herself as a victim.
04:24I'm on the way to yoga, so that'll be a nice little treat.
04:29I might start taking this up a bit more full time because I think mindfulness is really important.
04:34And, erm, it's never been so important for me as now. So, yeah.
04:41It was just living in fear, waking up and wondering what was going to be posted.
04:46At some point she's got to stop, surely. At some point she's got to stop.
04:52Because how can you not? Erm...
04:56Sam Wall kept spreading her vicious lies for months. Justine had no idea how to respond.
05:12What I decided to do in the end, because I didn't know what else to do, was just block and ignore and try to put it out of my mind.
05:22I had a business to run. I had a young child. And, you know, I couldn't let that, you know, destroy my life. I had to get through it.
05:31I just never thought that the police would take it seriously. What was it going to go and say, oh, she's put a few messages on Twitter.
05:42Sam Wall was a social media specialist. That was her livelihood. So she knows exactly what she was doing.
05:49She knew the methods of hurting individuals and what would hurt them the most.
05:54Justine's decision not to engage with the online taunts meant that eventually she stopped becoming a target.
06:06And then, two years later, in 2019, Sam Wall had a new victim in her sights.
06:13Sam Wall has been, without question, the biggest nemesis of my life.
06:18You know, when you think about social media influencers, their ideas to make everything look amazing.
06:26She was like a reverse influencer. Her job was to make me look terrible.
06:30You know, over the years, people have said, oh, well, what did you do to the girl? Nothing.
06:36You know, it was just a meeting, an innocuous one. There was nothing I could have done differently.
06:41You know, I could have done differently.
06:50Here's the main turn, people. Yes! That's what I got here for me. Make it late! Yes!
06:56Motivational speaker Brad Burton is on stage in front of a room full of professionals.
07:03Brad Burton, who cares, wins? Who cares, wins?
07:06Trying to inspire them to be more brave in their business dealings.
07:11This event was over at Aston Villa Football Club. It was called Now What? Courage Under Fire.
07:18There was 200 people in the room, and it was an amazing event.
07:21No problems whatsoever. World-class speakers. And everything was as it should be.
07:27On behalf of me and the speakers, everyone else, let you discern them. Thank you so much.
07:31One of the delegates was Sam Wall, who had secured herself a front row table.
07:48And at the end of that event, I got approached, as you do, as a speaker, to kind of have a selfie and what have you.
07:54Of course, no problems. And there must have been, I don't know, 50 people asked for selfies that day.
07:59One of which was Sam Wall.
08:03I didn't know Sam. I'd never met her before. She was in the audience.
08:07But when you're on stage, you don't really see people. You kind of just focussed on your role.
08:12And it was pretty inconsequential, if I'm honest.
08:15She said she was shy. She said it was an amazing day. We had a selfie.
08:19And that was it. There was nothing special about it.
08:24There was nothing memorable about that whole chance meeting.
08:27It was one selfie of thousands I've probably done over the years.
08:32While Sam Wall may not have made an impression on Brad, he had certainly caught her attention.
08:37Hi. Brad is just out of this world. But today has blown my head off. Totally inspirational.
08:43You start looking at yourself really, really internally as an individual and seeing yourself for who you really are.
08:48Amazing. I can't say any more than that. Just incredible.
08:52Get down to the next one, guys. August. I can't remember. I think it's the 11th. August.
08:56Was that too much?
08:57But after the social media strategist's glowing review of Brad's performance, all went quiet.
09:07Until two years later.
09:10And there was a post on Facebook and the post was something like, from Sam, I'm being intimidated by someone.
09:19People piled on and said, you know, oh, who is it? Can we help? And, you know, inbox me on.
09:28And then the next day, she then did another post to say it's a high profile speaker. That was brewing.
09:35And this was like, and I'm reading this thinking, I wonder who it is.
09:39And then the day three, she said it's a high profile motivational speaker.
09:44And I'm like, whoa.
09:45Whoa.
09:47Brad Burton's online stalker, Sam Wall, was broadcasting a lie across social media telling all her 30,000 friends and followers that she was being stalked.
09:58By him.
10:01I'm just taking a little bit of time to kind of come to terms with things because it's just a lot. I've been through a lot, you know, because I might cry.
10:12But it was across all formats. This wasn't just Facebook. This was Instagram. This was Twitter. This was LinkedIn, which is my primary business network.
10:23This is somebody that I met for 30 seconds. Yeah, this isn't somebody that I've known 30 seconds. This could have been you.
10:30It just happened to be me.
10:34People would say, have you seen what she's written about you?
10:38I wake up with 20, 30 people, screen captures of what she'd said about me.
10:43And this wasn't, just so we're clear, this isn't like 10 posts, 100 posts.
10:48This is thousands of posts. Thousands.
10:50All aimed at weaponising the internet and weaponising her followers against me.
10:58She had a picture of me and saying I'm being arrested and what have you.
11:01You're disorientated. It's a bit like being a boxer, I'm sure.
11:04When you're trained for being a boxer and you get punched for the first time, it's like, whoa, this is what's going on.
11:09Brad's friends set up an account to defend him, but Sam Wall responded with more lies.
11:20Brad went back through the two-year-old footage of his 30-second encounter with his stalker, searching for any kind of answer as to why she had targeted him.
11:29So what's happened in that two-year period?
11:41Why has she not done anything two years after first meeting him?
11:46And what's triggered her two years later just to target Brad?
11:52It's very unusual.
11:55Was that too much?
11:56Sam Wall is feeling tired, uncontactable stalker protection order update.
12:16So she says that she's got a stalker protection order five years.
12:19I'm not sure if you know. I've been applying for stalker protection.
12:20Well, guess what? It's been granted. You know, just bonkers. If caught, Brad faces up to ten years in prison.
12:25Sam Wall hasn't contacted Brad personally, but is telling her 30,000 friends and followers that she's the one being stalked.
12:32By him.
12:33Fucking crackers.
12:34She'd been in the audience at one of Brad's events in 2019 and had asked for a selfie afterwards.
12:35She's been in the audience at one of Brad's events in 2019 and had asked for a selfie afterwards.
12:37It's the only time they've seen them then.
12:39So it's the only time they've met.
12:40So it's the only time they've met trying to get them from the first meeting and I was talking to him.
12:42But you've never met.
12:43but is telling her 30,000 friends and followers that she's the one being stalked by him.
12:50Fucking crackers.
12:58She'd been in the audience at one of Brad's events in 2019
13:01and had asked for a selfie afterwards.
13:04It's the only time they've met.
13:07Every single day I'm getting these allegations on there that I've poisoned the cat,
13:11that I'd put tracking devices on her computer,
13:14that I'd planted drugs in her garden.
13:18I was given a death threats daily, slashing her tyres.
13:21I'd put a window through.
13:23She'd posted a picture of smashed windows and tyres.
13:26And people are believing this.
13:28And I'm just like, what is this about?
13:31She was documenting all these alleged crimes that I was doing, right?
13:36And she was saying that she'd gone to the police about me.
13:41None of what Sam Wall was posting about Brad was true.
13:46What you generally tend to see across all stalker typologies is a level of fixation and obsession.
13:54It's harassment.
13:55People don't even have to leave their houses and they can ruin people's lives.
14:00Anyone could be a stalker and anyone can be a victim.
14:04For those who use online platforms to stalk, what we know is that it allows perpetrators to push the boundaries in terms of what they might say, how they might communicate, that they wouldn't necessarily do in real life.
14:17It's really challenging for victims because by engaging with the perpetrator, it's feeding into what they actually want, which is that sense of that communication.
14:30I tried to ignore it.
14:31I tried to ignore it.
14:32I tried to ignore it.
14:33But I was losing speaking gigs.
14:35People were kind of backing away from me.
14:38It has to give me life for victims.
14:41It has to be better.
14:43It just kept going and going and going with my name in there.
14:46At which point I then went to a solicitor.
14:48It cost me £3,000 I think to get a cease and desist letters sent to her.
14:55We did just that and then she posted them on social media fully.
15:02A two-year-old selfie at a conference was the catalyst for Sam Wall to create an entirely false online narrative about Brad stalking her.
15:11The more Brad tries to stop the lies, the more she twists it as being evidence of his obsession with her.
15:19There's no logic.
15:20Horrific as stalking is, if you've been in a relationship and you're devastated that that relationship is broken down,
15:26although nobody can ever justify stalking, but there's a link between you and that person.
15:30If you've had an altercation with somebody and you decide that you're going to target them, there is a motive.
15:38But for somebody just to pluck somebody out of nowhere and decide they're going to put all their energy into causing them as much damage is quite worrying.
15:51Brad's reputation is getting trashed.
15:54He's getting daily alerts about more and more posts.
15:59Including a 20,000-word article alleging that Brad was stalking Sam.
16:04I ended up turning my notifications off because it was just horrible.
16:07You know, I wasn't getting any good news from the notifications.
16:10It was just this.
16:11And we were talking on occasion 10 posts a day.
16:14And that's 10 posts on LinkedIn, 10 posts on Facebook, 10 posts on Instagram, 10 posts on Twitter.
16:20So now you're in for 40, 40 lots of people all saying Brad Burton's a toe rag.
16:24We've seen multiple cases where the perpetrator poses as the victim and will counter alleged against the actual victim.
16:38Often messaging employers directly.
16:41We've even seen individuals lose their jobs because of the accusations that have been made against them.
16:46It was about deconstructing my network.
16:53I lost 70 members within 24 hours.
16:57It shakes you to your core.
17:00There was only 100 people that were amplifying and supporting this message.
17:05This was almost like an episode of Black Mirror.
17:10I was doubting myself.
17:12And as a motivational speaker, people buy into that confidence.
17:15And that was being shattered with all this.
17:17And because everywhere I turned, there was doubt.
17:22I didn't know where a safe place was anymore.
17:24I had no idea who was friends, who was full, who was indifferent.
17:27I had no idea.
17:28Only me.
17:33I'm not comfortable kind of talking about things at the minute.
17:38I actually should be, and I can be.
17:41But justice has been served.
17:43There's almost a game being played by Sam here of, you know, I can say this about you.
17:49You're going to have a lot of damage to your reputation.
17:51I walk away as a victim.
17:53And people think, poor old Sam.
17:54It's so unusual in this case that they didn't know each other.
18:00And as far as Brad's aware, there isn't any motive.
18:05And it's very hard to comprehend.
18:09But Sam wasn't just targeting Brad.
18:11There were other people out there.
18:15Sam Wool's behaviour is escalating.
18:20Six years after gaslighting her former boss, Justine Wright,
18:23the online stalker is backspreading lies about her again.
18:28I can remember it as if it was yesterday.
18:32We were having dinner on a Sunday evening.
18:34And again, another associate that I know messaged me on WhatsApp and said,
18:39what's all this with you, Brad and Sam Wall?
18:42I just said, I know Sam Wall.
18:46I don't even know a Brad.
18:49I've never met a Brad in my life.
18:51And she screenshotted some of the pages and some of the messages off Facebook.
18:56And I was just, I couldn't believe it. I just thought, after all these years, I'm still in her mind.
19:08I'm a words person. I write copy for a living.
19:11I can't think of how I would describe it other than just cold.
19:17Just, just a cold feeling.
19:23During the summer of 2021, Justine and Brad are both in the crosshairs of Sam Wall's online stalking campaign.
19:31But she has an additional target in her sights.
19:37Another online professional from Manchester, who she briefly met at an industry conference.
19:43What I did notice is long rants.
19:47And actually, I sent her a direct message on X saying, I understand that you're a digital marketeer.
19:53If you've got beef with people, you should take it offline.
19:55Because it's not good for your freelance reputation if you're ranting about people.
20:01And it was actually about Justine.
20:03And then suddenly, I started getting sent screenshots.
20:08From people who were basically saying, look, this person's saying all these things about you.
20:13It kept on happening.
20:15And then I was like saying to people, please stop sending me things.
20:18It's really distressing.
20:20But then it became more and more people had mentioned it.
20:22And that's when I found out that she was going and tying me up with things to do with Brad Burton.
20:35Sam Wall was now telling all her 30,000 followers that Naomi and Justine were colluding with Brad to stalk her, calling it gang stalking.
20:44My brain relies on me to be clean headed and think straight.
20:57And I was just being overwhelmed, consumed with just this, this, this, this, this absolute, all consuming dominance of my brain.
21:06You're trying to process the unprocessable.
21:09Ding, ding, ding.
21:13You feel isolated.
21:15Mentally, you feel isolated.
21:17Emotionally, you feel isolated.
21:19And, you know, I didn't have any answers for my family.
21:23I've got a young family.
21:25And I, you know, I wanted to protect my family.
21:28I then spoke to a solicitor and they said it's going to cost around £15,000 to kind of get her off the internet.
21:36I wasn't in a financial position to be able to do that.
21:38You know, things were tough.
21:40That's when I realised that this isn't going away.
21:42This was not going away unless something changed, at which point I went to the police.
21:46They went across multiple platforms. It was LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Instagram.
21:57And Brad had gone to the police and I said to him, I don't want this to happen to anybody else.
22:03I'm going to start gathering evidence and I'm going to go to the police as well.
22:09But if the three victims thought this would be the end of their ordeal, they'd be wrong.
22:14I actually felt scared.
22:20I didn't know how that was all going to end.
22:25And it was taking the whole stalking situation to a new level.
22:44I'm just taking a little bit of time to kind of come to terms with things because it's just a lot.
22:54I've been through a lot, you know, because I might cry.
23:01Social media strategist Sam Wall is using her knowledge of the online world to ruin the reputations of three people who don't know each other in front of her 30,000 friends and followers.
23:12Sam was just picking what appears to be people at random to target and stalk and cause misery in their lives.
23:22She was stalking on an industrial scale.
23:24This is somebody that you don't know, haven't got a relationship with, but has that amount of hatred for you and never really had anybody hate me before.
23:38Everything Justine, Naomi and Brad have tried to make her stop, Sam Wall is twisting to make it look like she's the victim.
23:48The concern and the fear for a lot of victims who are experiencing online behaviour is not knowing if the offline behaviour is going to occur.
23:56Will my stalker turn up at my door or my school or my workplace?
24:00It's the unknown element of that, that hypervigilance, the hypersensitivity that can occur because this perpetrator has affected every element of their life.
24:12A lot of victims have said that they have actually felt severely depressed and suicidal, so the risk is really high in victims of stalking.
24:20The trio's last hope is that the police can stop her.
24:28I went over to Somerset police.
24:29I gave a statement to somebody on reception.
24:31I spent 90 minutes and I'd shown them a folder that I'd had up to that point with the evidence.
24:37So, the police asked, what was your relationship with this woman?
24:40I met her for 30 seconds.
24:43Met her for 30 seconds.
24:45And they're like looking at me as if there's something that I'm not sharing.
24:49They want to know what Brad has done.
24:53The assumption would be that they've been in a relationship or that they're known to each other, so the police would want to test all of that.
25:00Because what they wouldn't want to do is start a case and then discover actually that the informant in this case Brad hadn't told them everything.
25:07I know, I get it, it's pretty incredulous, you think it'll come on.
25:13That's what happened.
25:16But for me, at least something's died.
25:24The police that we spoke to were really good, but we had to chase and chase.
25:29I think they kind of think it's not important enough, but it actually is, it destroys people's lives.
25:38There's a huge amount of legwork that needs to happen from the police's point of view.
25:44As more people get added to a case, so more victims, people come forward, the amount of evidence is going to double, triple, until it is almost unmanageable.
25:54Which is why it's so important to be able to pick out the really relevant parts and that can be used to then draw patterns between the different messages.
26:03You can't just take a screen capture. It's got to be done in a particular way with a link and so forth.
26:10Highlight particular things that were clear lies. He'd pose in my cat, he'd put a tracking device on my laptop, slashing my tyres.
26:15All three were asked to submit proof of Sam Wall's behaviour. But the case is taking too long for Brad.
26:30So, he's making the long journey from Somerset up to Manchester, where the case is now being coordinated.
26:36I have drove 400 miles roundtrip to be here today. Nobody's coming back to me.
26:44But this can't go wrong. You know, I'm a vicar to me out of this.
26:48So, I've made my way down to Stockport Divisional Headquarters and I'm waiting to see somebody who can practice with some answers.
26:55If you were living this every single day, you'd understand. You know, it's been a tough, old journey. It really has.
27:01And, um, yeah.
27:07In July 2023, police have enough evidence to arrest Sam Wall.
27:12They bring her in for questioning and issue her with a caution.
27:16I was like, hey, to my wife, this is going to stop now. You know, police are involved.
27:21Finally, this nightmare was over.
27:23Genuine relief that something was actually happening and somebody had taken it seriously.
27:28The police were actually now involved and trying to do something about it.
27:34Ironically, they became worse after we went to the police.
27:41The post became darker and darker.
27:44She kind of felt that she was untouchable.
27:48Whichever way I turned, it was just, it was horrible. I was guilty until proven innocent.
27:56How is this situation going to stop? What is actually going to stop her?
28:02Her posts have always had this sort of narrative as if she is the victim, that we're stalking her.
28:12She even did a true crime podcast as a victim, which I was just absolutely gobsmacked about.
28:20So, it's been a very, very strange time for me. I was getting bricks through my window. My car was getting destroyed.
28:33And what happens is you don't actually realise that this is all connected.
28:40You kind of think, oh my God, this is happening.
28:43Just when you think it couldn't get worse, it did.
28:46Sam appeared on a true crime podcast.
28:49And I never listened to it. I never listened to it.
28:52But people did listen to it.
28:54And all these allegations out there, once again, she was driving the agenda that everything that she was saying was true and legit.
29:01And I was this guy.
29:03It's an experience, actually, that's spanned 10 years now.
29:08And it's still ongoing, even though two of the people have been charged with harassment out of the group of gang stalkers.
29:17So, really, it's gang stalking. So, it's recruiting other individuals to be part of stalking a person.
29:25I got my solicitor to contact and say, you've not done your due diligence on this.
29:31Because, once again, she'd been dragged into this, believing that I was this guy.
29:35And that we was bullying things.
29:37I'm a very empathic person.
29:39You think that you're the one that's the issue.
29:43What I do, and have seen since, is that the people stalking me have got characteristics of psychopathic behaviour.
29:51And I'm pretty sure a number of them are psychopaths, but obviously, I'm no expert.
29:57I don't understand what is happening with Samantha's mind.
30:07I have no idea why she has crafted the story around myself and Brad and other people stalking her.
30:16The fact that she did a true crime podcast as a victim, the fact that she's still commenting as a victim is incredibly disturbing.
30:36The police caution only seems to have inflamed Sam Waugh's agenda against the trio.
30:42She became more and more malicious in her lies that she told.
30:48She talked about people being in prison.
30:51She talked about Brad committing offences.
30:55All of it, just a figment of her imagination.
30:58Those messages were shared again and again.
31:02So the people actually started to believe.
31:04They started to believe that he was physically in prison.
31:07It was impacting my family and my eldest, who'd read it online.
31:12He asked mum, is dad going to prison?
31:15You know, and that was...
31:17Then you've got to have a conversation with your son who's doing exams at uni to say, no, he's not.
31:25Then she posted that I'd been sentenced to nine years in prison for stalking her.
31:31And all these hundreds of people went, yeah, well done.
31:36And I'm like, but I'm here.
31:38I was having a curry with a friend of mine.
31:40And that came through and I'm like, what's going on here?
31:43Brad's friends and family obviously know the truth.
31:47But he feels the need to fight back.
31:50To prove he isn't locked up in prison, Brad did a series of live online broadcasts.
31:56How's it up?
31:59Zoom in April of mine.
32:01Yep.
32:04Then she said, I've got a twin that was pretending to be me.
32:09The same tattoos, the same haircut, the same dental work, right?
32:13And it's like, this is just bonkers.
32:16She built it up.
32:17She didn't go from zero to he's got a twin and he's in prison.
32:21It was methodical and painting a picture, a really dark picture of me as an individual.
32:30I have been questioned a few times about whether there was any truth in the posts.
32:36I work freelance as well as sort of working for a couple of organisations.
32:42And Stockport Council actually questioned it.
32:45So I had to then send them evidence, but also police statements.
32:49Just to prove my innocence.
32:57Brad, Justine and Naomi's attention turns to the social media platforms themselves.
33:02Perhaps they can stop this onslaught.
33:05Social media companies have a huge responsibility in cases like this.
33:10I think they should be held accountable for what goes on sometimes on their platforms.
33:20They didn't act. They didn't remove anything.
33:25Twitter, no response. Instagram, no response.
33:30LinkedIn, it doesn't go against our terms and conditions.
33:32That's it.
33:35So thousands of posts aimed at dismantling a person's reputation on a professional network like LinkedIn.
33:42And yet it doesn't contravene terms and conditions.
33:44May I ask what does?
33:46If I sent too many messages on LinkedIn, LinkedIn would put me in LinkedIn jail for like 24 hours and I wouldn't be able to use my account.
33:58If I was a breastfeeding mother and I posted a picture of me breastfeeding my child, that picture would probably go against guidelines for Instagram and that would be banned.
34:08So why they can't do something to somebody who we had quite clearly said was going through the police system, I don't know.
34:19Oh yeah, my LinkedIn account found out that it's only temporarily restricted and somebody's been hacking it.
34:27So, yeah, I'm not too surprised by that.
34:31But that's good news because obviously it sounds like I'm not going to lose it forever.
34:34The responsibility 100% lies with the social media platforms.
34:39It's just completely baffling that they're not doing anything about it.
34:46In July 2023, eight years after Sam Wall first targeted Justine and two years since she started spreading lies about Brad and Naomi, they finally had some hope that it might be ending.
34:58Sam Wall has been arrested and charged under the Malicious Communications Act.
35:07We had this kind of reprieve.
35:09It was great because we thought, yes, finally, it's going to stop.
35:12And she got 30 day bail conditions.
35:15And, you know, for that 30 days, life was good.
35:1931 days in, boom, started all over again.
35:22It's been 16 months since Sam Wall was charged with sending malicious communications, stalking and harassment.
35:43She's about to go on trial, but in her world, that just means more material to use in her vicious campaign to ruin the lives of her victims.
35:55She posted the jubilant message of who I'm going to court, see you there.
36:01It's always been, I'm the victim.
36:03Poor me.
36:04These people are trying to ruin my life.
36:07Let's see what happens.
36:09I can't wait.
36:11Quite aggressive.
36:13She broke bail several times.
36:15The first time she broke bail, I think she was kept in a cell for 24 hours.
36:23And she then did a 54 tweet rant about being arrested and how she'd been wrongfully arrested.
36:30But then she was given other charges and then she broke bail again.
36:36It was kind of like she had no regard for the law.
36:40She showed no remorse.
36:44She truly believed that we were the ones who were ruining her life.
36:51So convinced in her own mind that we were doing that.
36:55But the reality was the complete reverse.
37:04After years of being attacked online, Sam Wall's campaign was pushing her victims to the brink.
37:11I just feel, I do feel, I don't feel like no one's probably the wrong word, but I'm kind of, erm...
37:19We didn't know what she might do next, didn't know what she was capable of.
37:25I can tell you something now, for four seconds, four seconds, flashed into my brain, kill yourself.
37:30That's what, that's the way to stop this.
37:33And I, you know, nobody actually knows that, and the first time I've shared it on camera.
37:37Erm, you know, fortunately it didn't, I'm here.
37:40But that could have been a completely different, erm, outcome to all this.
37:44I'm of sound, solid mind, but that, for four seconds, it made sense.
37:49That was the darkest moment, at which point I realised that, you know,
37:53went to the doctors and got some anti-depressants, first time in 25 years.
38:02I've seen him cry, I've seen him emotional, and seeing how a small woman from Stockport
38:12can do something like this to a man, it is, is really quite scary.
38:16Unless you've actually lived through this, having people say really cruel, unjust things,
38:25it's simply not true.
38:27Plastering your face on things.
38:29I have cried so many tears, and had my confidence knocked so many times.
38:37I have to be strong, I don't think that I could get through this
38:40without the, the beta blockers that I'm getting on to stop me having panic attacks.
38:45Erm, it's incredibly hard.
38:49It was really frustrating because she continued to post,
38:54not necessarily derogatory things, but she was still present,
38:57and that being present is enough to, to trigger you,
39:01because she's, she's still there.
39:04You know, when someone's still poking, I'm not, I've not gone away, I'm here.
39:08It's torturous.
39:12The internet has really turned everything upside down,
39:15because we're talking about a new level of stalking.
39:18In the old days, people would send a poison pen letter,
39:22you'd have to physically write it, and then you'd send it off.
39:26You know, fast forward to 2025, and people are basically, at the press of a button,
39:33can send those messages to thousands of people,
39:35and decide to do it publicly on social media,
39:38and have no concerns about what harm it does to the people and the recipients.
39:42What we're seeing is, post-Covid in 2021, a significant increase,
39:52both in terms of the intensity and the frequency of online abuse that victims of stalking experience.
39:57Not surprisingly, the form of communication that's the easiest social media contact grew the most,
40:04by almost 35%.
40:06When victims come to us, one of the key pieces of advice we would give is,
40:10do not communicate with the perpetrator, or respond to what they're saying.
40:15Eventually, at the end of 2024, Sam Wall is in court being tried.
40:25But the nightmare is far from over for her victims.
40:29Most people would have fought back on social media. Facts.
40:35There's a reason that, you know, this is a less than 2% conviction rate.
40:37I've had to keep my mouth shut, and I've had to soak up this abuse.
40:44It's just taken four years to get to court. Four years.
40:48You really do sack yourself up to be there, because, don't forget,
40:53she's sat ten foot away from you, and you can't help but look at her.
40:58It was very distressing, seeing her. What they don't warn you about in court is actually,
41:08when people come out, you're still going to be in a corridor with those people.
41:12Seeing her made me physically repulse.
41:20My daughter came with me.
41:22We walked through double doors, and she came through the double doors,
41:26and she actually smiled. That was a horrible moment.
41:32I actually felt a chill down my spine.
41:37You're all in a really close space.
41:41You know, the whole situation is not good for you as a victim.
41:46She initially had pleaded not guilty, and she changed her plea to guilty.
41:52She's talking to her brief right now.
41:53She's, like, a minute out, and then the brief said,
41:57you do not have a case to answer effectively.
41:58So she went, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty. Five guilty.
42:04I actually think the reason why she pleaded guilty is because the evidence surrounding the whole case
42:12was insurmountable, but a lot of that had been caused because of all the bail breaches.
42:15Having admitted stalking and sending false messages, the judge has warned Sam Wall to expect to serve jail time.
42:26But her three victims are still not able to rest.
42:29So the initial charges were actually made in 2023.
42:35We then went to magistrates in November 2024, and then she changed her plea to guilty.
42:43It was then transferred to Crown Court for sentencing.
42:46The judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation.
42:52A further date in Crown Court, March of 2025.
42:56Another Crown Court date for sentencing in May cancelled.
43:00Another court date in June cancelled.
43:04We have now been given a further date of the 28th of August 2025.
43:10This has been, without question, the biggest nemesis of my life.
43:19I go back to the metaphor that I used earlier, which is your boxing, you get punched in the face.
43:24First time disorientating, thousand times just getting punched in the face.
43:27You kind of get used to it, kind of get used to the abuse.
43:30Doesn't mean it's right, but you do.
43:33Having somebody destroy your reputation online and destroy your character online is devastating.
43:50It's cruel, it's manipulative, it's incredibly upsetting.
43:55You cannot defend yourself.
43:56You cannot defend yourself, because if you defend yourself, you are feeding the perpetrator.
44:05She absolutely believes it's true.
44:08I've seen her in court, where the judge is reading out various extracts, or he's talking about what she's done,
44:17and she's shaking her head in disbelief, like, who are you talking about?
44:21I haven't, that's not me, I haven't done that.
44:22Stop posting, take them down.
44:28She's been told not to do that, by a judge, and she's still posting.
44:34She can't, she can't not.
44:40Might sound bonkers, but I'm glad of the experience, because this has proven to me,
44:44that no matter how tough things get in life, there is a way through, a positive way through.
44:54Sometimes it doesn't make any sense until you look back through a rear view mirror.
44:59And this is now making sense, because people have been coming forward to me,
45:03have been helping people and guiding people about how they should deal with it,
45:05navigating the police system, how you do it.
45:07But as I say, everything happens for a reason, even the shitty stuff.
45:13The three of us together has helped.
45:17We've helped each other, and we'll continue to help each other.
45:20I am moving on with my life, and the business is successful, and I've got through it.
45:28You know, I just would hate her to be able to do it to somebody else.
45:58Deirdre is the first time to take care of each other, the people we're looking forward to today.
46:02The two things that we're looking forward to are waiting through,
46:05the people we are looking forward to are waiting for the people,
46:07to help people with being on the level of the word.
46:09What about you and the truth?
46:11What about you?
46:13How about you, in the world you are doing?
46:15How about you?
46:18What about you?
46:20How about you?
46:22How about you?
46:25How about you?
Be the first to comment