Coronation Street's Nicola Thorp to come face-to-face with ‘Grim Reaper’ stalker
Terrified actress Nicola Thorp is set to meet the self-described ‘Grim Reaper’ stalker who made her life hell for two years.
The pregnant former Coronation Street star - who played Nicola Rubinstein on the ITV soap - must relive her horrifying ordeal at the hands of a Ravinderjit Dhillon in court. The 34-year-old arrived at Snaresbrook Crown Court with her fiancé Nikesh Patel by her side ahead of his sentencing.
He made threats to sexually abuse her in front of her parents, using 25 different online aliases to try to avoid detection. The 30-year-old from Feltham, west London, set off on his warped campaign against the TV star and newspaper columnist in October 2018. He was convicted back in April and has been held in custody ever since.
The actress played Nicola Rubinstein on the cobbles (ITV)Nicola handed police an 89-page document detailing the harassment she suffered at his hands eight months ago. She told a pre-trial hearing that Dhillon sent her a message on Instagram that said 'a woman's place was on her knees'. He had already sent her an an intimate photo of himself on social media.
"He told me I was to be put in a headlock and forced into sexual acts and wanted to make my parents watch,' she said. "He sent me messages saying, "I'm going to be with you forever"; he said, "I'm your grim reaper" and in one message alone he said 28 times he "wasn't going to leave me".
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"He said alleyways are the perfect place to pick up drunk stupid women and stupid 16-year-old b**ches.' I've spent most of my adult life fighting for the rights of women and doing so in the public eye has come with some personal cost. I became the target of the exact behaviour I was standing up against. Dhillon became an army of men all wanting to do me harm, threats to rape me, choke me.'"
She went on to say he also contacted her on social media claiming one of his friends followed her on to a train and had 'got so close to her he could smell her'. Dhillon's IP address was finally linked by police to the accounts he used to harass the journalist and he was arrested.
The star has been dealing the trauma with the birth of her child just months away. Nicola posted a scan photo in September, reading "Some news." Her post which has been liked over 6,000 times was soon flooded with messages of congratulations from fans and celebrity pals. Countryfile star Anita Rani said: "Aaahhh!! This is beautiful. Congratulations."
"Awwww congrats both!!! Amazing news," added Scarlette Douglas. Meanwhile, Simon Lennon penned: "Congratulations!!" alongside two heart emojis. One follower added: "Congratulations. I clocked that bump weeks ago. You look fabulous."
*If you've been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999
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