Filmmaker who sent woman threatening messages from fake accounts is jailed for stalking

A woman has told of her ordeal at the hands of a stalker who bombarded her messages from fake accounts saying “every single night he is torturing me again” as she has been left suffering from nightmares.

Riagain Grainger, 22, was jailed for two-and-a-half years at Manchester Crown Court on Wednesday after he admitted stalking involving fear of violence, serious alarm and distress, a spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said.

The woman he stalked has also been left suffering panic attacks and says she “never felt safe” during the time she was getting the messages - and still doesn’t

Grainger, a filmmaker, met his victim while they were both studying at the same university.

He sent threatening messages from anonymous accounts.

The messages continued for three months from September 2019, and included threats to harm and kill, as well as pictures of the victim’s home address. Grainger was also seen near to the victim’s address on multiple occasions.

He was arrested on the 24 October 2019, and following searches of Grainger’s phone, images of the victim and her home address were found, and he was subsequently charged.

‘They kept coming, one by one, multiple in an hour’

In a powerful statement describing the impact Grainger’s actions had on her his victim, a 21-year-old woman, said she suffered multiple panic attacks after he began to send the messages.

She said she didn’t realise how long it would take her to accept she won’t recover from it, and no matter what she does it links back to something related to the case.

“It has been just over two years now since I received the first threatening message from one of Grainger’s many fake accounts. At first, I ignored them, hoping it was just some sort of spam account. But they kept coming, one by one, multiple in an hour, all from different accounts, for the next three months.”

She said the messages became so regular, that every time she would block an account, within five minutes, there would be a new one.

She said: “I would wake up and have several different accounts messaging me, all with multiple messages. I could barely have a chance to breathe before there would be another.

“Every time I would hear a phone ring, I would start crying, or shaking, at the fear that it might be for me. It didn’t matter if it was in real life or if it was on a TV show or a film – whenever I heard a phone ring, I would have a panic attack. Even if it was just a vibration. But it wasn’t just the fear of getting a message that was the issue, it was the fear of what those messages said.”

‘I never felt safe. I still don’t feel safe’

She is still dealing with the impact of what happened, and says: “Those messages, each one of them tore a different piece of my confidence away. They made me feel the ugliest I have ever felt. It didn’t matter how small the comment was, it made me feel smaller and smaller every single day, until I felt so small that I didn’t even want to leave my bedroom.

“I couldn’t do anything. Everything I did he was watching, and he was following. I would have multiple panic attacks everywhere I went. Anytime I saw anyone who looked remotely similar I would cry uncontrollably thinking it was him.

“I never felt safe. I still don’t feel safe. I still jump every time my phone rings. I still feel sick every time I get a message from an unknown account. I still have a panic attack every time I see someone who looks like him. I still can’t even step foot on a bus, thinking he might be there watching me

“I have constant nightmares about him – about him attacking me, hurting me. They started a couple of weeks after the messages started and they haven’t stopped. Even now, every single night I am woken up by him. Every single night he is torturing me again.”

Grainger, of Rosnareen Road, Trillick, Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland, was also made subject to an indefinite stalking prevention order.

‘Stalking can have a devastating effect on a victim’

Detective Constable Thomas Small said: “Stalking can have a devastating effect on a victim and their loved ones and I hope this sentencing shows that we take any reports of stalking and harassment seriously and are committed to bringing anyone found responsible to justice.

“Everyone has the right to live their life without fear and harassment, and Grainger made that impossible for this young woman.

“I would urge any victims of stalking or harassment to please take that brave step and report it to us.”

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