The wife of a former MP has expressed fears that the Baby Reindeer stalker ‘wants to harm’ her and is ‘frightened’ that she might buy a house near her home.
Laura Wray, 62, spoke out to set the record straight after the Fiona Harvey interview with Piers Morgan.
During that chat, Ms Harvey alleged that Mrs Wray had actually harassed her.
But Mrs Wray told The Mail on Sunday that she had in fact been plagued by Ms Harvey, 58, for four years, which resulted in a court order being granted at Glasgow Sheriff Court in 2002.
And tonight, Mrs Wray – the widow of former Labour MP Jimmy Wray – told Piers Morgan she feared Ms Harvey. She said: ‘I think she sees me as an enemy and I can see her wanting to harm me.’
She went on to say she’s aware of rumours Ms Harvey is house hunting near her home in Stirlingshire which fills her with dread.
‘I am frightened. I have no doubt she’s a dangerous stalker. No doubt at all,’ she said.
The Mail on Sunday previously told how Mrs Wray was shocked to see her stalker portrayed in the character Martha on the hit Netflix show Baby Reindeer.
The series is based on the real-life experience of Scots comedian Richard Gadd, who plays Donny Dunn.
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In the first episode, Martha walks into the pub where he works and boasts of being a hotshot lawyer though, inexplicably, a broke one. Taking pity, he makes her a cup of tea, which triggers her obsession.
Soon Martha is emailing Gadd hundreds of times a day, turning up outside his house and harassing his family and friends. Over four-and-a-half years, Gadd says he received 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, letters totalling 106 pages and 350 hours of voicemail messages.
The series also hints at Martha’s previous history of stalking. Gadd’s character searches her name online and finds a newspaper article – fictionalised for the show – with the headline: ‘Sick stalker targets barrister’s deaf child’.
This barrister is Mrs Wray, an advocate in Scotland whose family – including her severely disabled son Frankie – was targeted during the stalking campaign.
The final straw for her came in 2002 when she and her husband were accused by Ms Harvey of assaulting three-year-old Frankie, who was born with a rare chromosomal disorder. Mrs Wray then secured an interim interdict in court which prevented Ms Harvey from further harassing her.
Speaking about the ordeal tonight, she said she was ‘horrified’ and couldn’t believe someone could be so ‘callous and cruel’.
Originally a solicitor, Mrs Wray first encountered Ms Harvey – who was a law graduate known as Fiona Muir from a middle-class family – in 1997 when she was persuaded to employ her for a short trial at her law firm in Glasgow. Mrs Wray was forced to sack Ms Harvey who went on to stalk and harass her.
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Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored tonight, Mrs Wray said Ms Harvey ‘threw books across the office’ and went ‘completely crazy’.
She said: ‘I would come into the office and the answer phone would be full of messages from her. There were full grown adults crying.’
Shockingly, she said she first became aware of the Netflix show when the Mail on Sunday contacted her asking if she had seen it.
Watching the show, she was ‘in a state of shock’ and said it was ‘very obvious it was the same person’ as the letters and messages were ‘identical’ to those she was sent.
Describing the effect it had on her, Mrs Wray said it was ‘very triggering’.
Now, she’s afraid Ms Harvey might be looking to buy a house near her and is ‘frightened’ because: ‘I don’t know what she’s capable of.’
Speaking about what it was like when Ms Harvey worked at the firm, Mrs Wray said: ‘She was dreadful, she shouted at people, she tried to follow a male member of staff home, she was inappropriate with people, she threw books.
‘She told people “you don’t want to come here” on our hotline and gave details of competitors out.’
Mrs Wray said that when staff tried to help Ms Harvey, she would shout “don’t speak to me like that”.’
She also claimed the alleged stalker phoned a disabled solicitor and told him everyone at the firm didn’t like him and said ‘nasty things’ about him.
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Ms Harvey ‘left staff members in tears terrified she was going to harm them, that something awful was going to happen,’ according to her former boss.
Mrs Wray told Morgan that when she was fired, she refused to leave and ran through the office ‘screaming’ until she was marched out – and remained outside shouting.
The barrister said: ‘She left voicemail messages every day for five years which filled up the machine – about an hours worth.’
Mrs Wray said on the show that Netflix didn’t contact her to say Baby Reindeer would be coming out.
But about a week before Piers Morgan interviewed her, she said the streaming platform asked her for a copy of an interim order as they’re under pressure to prove what was said in the show is true.
The barrister said she thinks Ms Harvey ‘may have a good case’ against Netflix but is not sure what it would be worth in terms of damages.
But if Netflix does give her a payout, Mrs Wray said she will sue Ms Harvey – but added there is no point in suing if she’s ‘got nothing’.
Mrs Wray blasted Richard Gadd and Netflix for saying he changed the details so the people wouldn’t be recognised and told Morgan Mr Gadd could have ‘easily’ hired an actress who didn’t look like Ms Harvey.
She went on to highlight the continuing impact on her life, and described how there are abusive online comments and a Fiona Harvey support group saying she looks like a man and is Mr Gadd’s ‘trans girlfriend’ – something she wants to clarify is not true.
Concluding the interview with a message for her alleged stalker, Mrs Wray said to ‘get help’ and ‘get off Facebook’.