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Summary
Netflix ’s New crime documentaryminiseries , Can I Tell You A Secret ? , includes many shocking reveals about fecund UK cyberstalker Matthew Hardy . found on the podcast of the same name by The Guardian reporter Sirin Kale , Can I assure You A Secret?is a two - parttrue - crime show on Netflixaboutan on-line sneak who unrelentingly harassed women with nonstop calls and messages under false identity for years . This included cut up their societal media story and creating fake profiles pretending to be his victim and their friends , family , and confrere , and spreading Lie about them to ruin their relationship .
" Can I tell you a secret ? " was Hardy ’s signature tune idiom , as he asked all his victims this question at one point in time .
Can I Tell You A Secret?emphasized the extensive legal injury Hardy did to his victims ' lives , which involve developing corporate trust issue , life-threatening anxiety and paranoia , and lose any intuitive feeling of condom . Part 1 focuses on three of Hardy ’s most recent victims , Zoe , Abby , and Lia , who had no personal connection to him and did n’t find out he was their stalker for a foresightful time . Part 2 covered the probe carry out by Cheshire Police Constable Kevin Anderson , revealingtons of scandalous details about Hardy ’s anterior victims , his personal and criminal account , the CRO of his crime , and his eventual conviction .
Can I Tell You A Secret?is useable to pour on Netflix .
The Netflix true crime modified series Can I Tell You A Secret ? revolves around a man who stalk and harassed women online , including Abby Furness .
8Matthew Hardy Had Been Stalking & Harassing Women Online For 11 Years
He started with girls from his school back in 2009
By the time he was get by Officer Anderson in 2020 , which lead to his eventual conviction , Hardy had been stalking and harassing womanhood online for 11 year .
Can I recite You A Secret?Part 1 end with Zoe incur an article in 2019 reporting that Hardy had been sentence in 2011 for hack a woman ’s Facebook history . Part 2 then delved intoHardy ’s extensive history of online stalking , dating all the manner back to 2009 , when he was still a adolescent . Hardy ’s first victims were girl from his mellow shoal , who received gonzo messages from him through fake report . By the metre he was arrested by Officer Anderson in 2020 , which lead to his eventual conviction , Hardy had been haunt and harassing women online for 11 years .
7Matthew Hardy Was Arrested 10 Times For Stalking Before He Went To Prison
The police received over 100 complaints about him over an 11-year period
Over the course of his 11 years of stalk , Hardy had been reported to the police in Cheshire over 100 time by different women . Only 10 of these complaints resulted in halt , and of these pinch , only two resulted in any sort of punishment for Hardy . He did community service and had two restraining orders filed against him , but he did n’t serve any hard time for his offences until his prison house sentence in 2022 .
6Matthew Hardy Had At Least 62 Victims (But Likely More)
He is suspected of having hundreds of victims
In addition to Zoe , Abby , and Lia , other victims of Hardy ’s like Nini , his former schoolmate , and Sabrina , his uncle ’s married woman ’s friend , also shared their stories about him inCan I Tell You A Secret?While only a handful of victims were interviewed , during his investigation , Officer Anderson spoke to a aggregate of 62 women who had been victim of Hardy ’s stalking and harassment . However , Anderson believes that many more char have been terrorized by Hardy over the days , anticipate there are hundreds more victims out there .
5Matthew Hardy Stalked At Least 1 Of His Victims In Person
He breached a restraining order filed by one of his victims
Though the bulk of his stalking and molestation took office online , Hardy ’s crimes were n’t just trammel to cyberspace . In addition to call and message her constantly , Hardy stalk at least one of his victims , Amy , by follow her around Northwich in person . As Amy explained inCan I say You A Secret?,Hardy message her while she was washing a car at work and described what she was wearing and what she was doing .
Amy was capable to get a restraining order against Hardy in 2013 , which prevented him from relieve oneself liaison with her through any means . However , Hardy ended up break the restraining order numerous times both online and in person . This included one incident where Amy was in her car with the door locked , waiting for her boyfriend to render , and Hardy approach her car and start yelling and banging on the window .
4One Of Matthew Hardy’s Victims Slept With A Samurai Sword For Protection
Zoe lived in fear that her stalker would try to harm her in real life
After months of enduring her then - strange stalker ’s intimidation , Zoe was living in a lasting state of care . Though he had yet to make touch in person , she was so afraid that he would come after her in real life that she catch some Z’s with a samurai sword nearby . “I felt that dangerous , " she expressed inCan I Tell You A Secret?“For me , it feel safe to have something to protect myself . That ’s the steps that I take . " gratefully , she never had to use the weapon , but this demonstrate the lengths some of his dupe go to in fiat to feel safe .
3One Of Matthew Hardy’s Victims Kept A 700+ Page File Of Evidence Of His Stalking
Lia’s extensive record of proof was a major factor in Hardy’s eventual conviction
Thanks to all the valuable dataLia provided , Officer Anderson was able-bodied to straightaway link Hardy to at least some of the offense .
Lia , who used to be a paralegal , preserve a massive yellow folder full of printed screenshots of every subject matter ever sent , every bogus societal media profile and account ever created , and every real image used by her prowler . Lia ’s filing cabinet contained over 700 pages of grounds of middleman that she ’d gathered , organized , and indexed . She hand it over to Officer Anderson , who described it as the " nugget " he needed to make his case .
Thanks to all the worthful dataLia bring home the bacon , Officer Anderson was able to directly link Hardy to at least some of the offences . Once Anderson was able to provide enough evidence of Hardy ’s crimes , CPS ( Crown Prosecution Service ) decided to move forwards and take the showcase to court , give him permission to agitate Hardy . If it was n’t for Lia ’s diligent corroboration of his criminal offence , Hardy might never have been bring to trial in the first place .
2Matthew Hardy Was Formally Diagnosed With Autism
His attorney used his autism diagnosis as part of his defense in court
In Part 2 ofCan I Tell You A Secret ? , former class fellow of Hardy ’s were interviewed about what he was like in school . Hardy was described as an outcast who have a heap of societal exclusion and grew up feel different from other multitude . It was n’t until he was an adult thatHardy was officially diagnosed with ASD , or Autism Spectrum Disorder .
Hardy ’s autism diagnosis was subsequently bring up in court when he was eventually put on tryout for his stalking crimes . His lawyer play in a forensic psychologist to hear to convert the judge to thin Hardy ’s culpability , indicate that he could n’t have cognize that what he was doing was wrong because of his autism and thus did n’t intend to cause any scathe . Dr. Amy Pearson , a developmental psychologist , explain that she"find[s ] it dissatisfactory when autism is used as a defence reaction , " because it further perpetuates negative stereotype that autistic people lack empathy for and understanding of other people .
1Matthew Hardy Was Sentenced To 9 Years In Prison
He received the longest sentence for cyberstalking in UK history
In January 2022,Hardy was doom to nine years in prison , the longest conviction ever given to a cyberstalker in the UK.As Kale noted , only 0.1 % of stalkers ever get a condemnable condemnation , and of those convicted , the mediocre custodial sentence is only 13.5 months . Kale pointed out that the length of his sentence was belike mold by the degree of harm he ’d done , the number of people he ’d harmed , and the wide length of time he ’d been carrying out his stalk . Hardy appeal his prison term 11 months after he embark prison house , and it was reduced to eight years .
