Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, we have some exciting news to share. ABC
Speaker 1: News Studios has turned Caroline Brega's story from Betrayal Season
Speaker 1: four into a docuseries. You'll get to meet the people involved,
Speaker 1: You'll hear from people who have never spoken before, and
Speaker 1: you get to see where this story took place. We
Speaker 1: are so proud and excited to share it with you all.
Speaker 1: Stream Betrayal Dirty Secrets now on Hulu or Hulu for
Speaker 1: Disney Plus.
Speaker 2: You've got to arrest him because I don't know where
Speaker 2: this is going to end. He's a liar, he's a manipulator,
Speaker 2: and he's an abusa and I don't think he'll stop
Speaker 2: unless he's made to stop.
Speaker 1: I'm Andrea Gunning, and this is Betrayal, a show about
Speaker 1: the people we trust the most and the decep that
Speaker 1: change everything. Today we're sharing Hazel's story. She feels more
Speaker 1: comfortable telling her story with a pseudonym, but the rest
Speaker 1: of the names and details in this story are unchanged.
Speaker 1: Hazel lives in a small town in the UK.
Speaker 2: It's a village with two shops and there's not really
Speaker 2: a lot there to be honest.
Speaker 1: Hazel married her husband, Mikey, when she was eighteen. In
Speaker 1: her early twenties, she started studying to be a social worker.
Speaker 2: I started college and working a lot, so I wasn't
Speaker 2: really home and I think Mikey's reaction to that was
Speaker 2: he was at home board so it'd have a drink.
Speaker 1: Mikey's drinking turned from a habit to an addiction.
Speaker 2: It was awful. It was awful. He couldn't keep a
Speaker 2: job because obviously being alcohol dependent, so that put more
Speaker 2: pressure on me, having to pay the bills, make sure
Speaker 2: that you've got enough money.
Speaker 1: Hazel was working hard to build a full life. She
Speaker 1: had big dreams, but over time it became clear that
Speaker 1: Mikey couldn't grow with her.
Speaker 2: I wanted to better myself and get a better career
Speaker 2: and do something meaningful, and he was kind of stuck.
Speaker 1: Mikey's struggle with addiction changed him. He began lashing out
Speaker 1: at Hazel. He'd tell her that he wasn't drinking, but
Speaker 1: she started to see that he was just hiding it.
Speaker 2: When I'd come down in the morning, he'd have made
Speaker 2: me a coffee and he'd have one himself, and the
Speaker 2: would be vodka in his coffee. My anxiety was through
Speaker 2: the roof. It was just horrendous.
Speaker 1: Hazel realized she couldn't trust him anymore.
Speaker 2: We tried to save our marriage, but it just got worse.
Speaker 2: Over the next couple of years, things weren't good.
Speaker 1: Eventually, it was clear that Mikey needed professional support and
Speaker 1: Hazel needed a supportive part, and neither of them could
Speaker 1: be that for each other.
Speaker 2: It just got out of control.
Speaker 1: She and Mikey decided to divorce. The day he left,
Speaker 1: Hazel helped him pack up his things. Finally, she grabbed
Speaker 1: the last box and put it in his car. When
Speaker 1: she opened the trunk, it.
Speaker 2: Was filled with empty bottles of vodka whiskey.
Speaker 1: Then Mikey drove away. That's how Hazel found herself living
Speaker 1: alone for the first time as an adult, well almost alone.
Speaker 2: I had a dog called Rico. He was my little
Speaker 2: rescue dog. He rescued me as much as I rescued him.
Speaker 2: I call him my soul dog.
Speaker 1: She was learning how to do a lot of things
Speaker 1: on her own. Just a few days after Mikey moved out,
Speaker 1: Hazel went to take a shower and discovered the water
Speaker 1: was freezing cold.
Speaker 2: I had no hot water, so I had to ring
Speaker 2: this company back and say you've knackered up my hot water.
Speaker 2: I didn't have any hot water, so they said, we'll
Speaker 2: send somebody out the next day.
Speaker 1: Sure enough, the next morning, she heard a knock on
Speaker 1: her door. It was a repair man from the gas company.
Speaker 2: He was very tall, but didn't think anything of him,
Speaker 2: just a guess man.
Speaker 1: He got to work on the hot water heater. He
Speaker 1: has all went back to the living room, where she
Speaker 1: was hanging out with her best friend.
Speaker 2: We'd known each other since playgroup, you know, really really close,
Speaker 2: so she of course was the person I rang when
Speaker 2: I'd realized that, yeah, that's it, marriage is over. I
Speaker 2: was on the floor. I was at my most vulnerable,
Speaker 2: one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: It was a relief to have her best friend there
Speaker 1: to listen.
Speaker 2: I was talking about Mikey and his alcohol dependency and
Speaker 2: the lies, and just that I couldn't do it anymore.
Speaker 1: Eventually, the repairman finished fixing the boiler. He popped his
Speaker 1: head into the living room, told all he was done,
Speaker 1: and left.
Speaker 2: So my hot water was fixed. My friend had left.
Speaker 2: Didn't really fancy being in the house on my own,
Speaker 2: so I went over to my mom's, just trying to
Speaker 2: keep myself busy.
Speaker 1: She was at her Mom's sitting on the couch doing
Speaker 1: the same thing she'd been doing for days.
Speaker 2: I sat thinking about, you know, the end of my marriage.
Speaker 1: Then her phone buzzed.
Speaker 2: I got a text message from a number that I
Speaker 2: didn't know. Said, it's Mark, the gas engineer. Can I
Speaker 2: just ask? Did I leave my laptop case at your house?
Speaker 2: I told him what, I'd have a look, and when
Speaker 2: I got home there was no laptop case. So I
Speaker 2: messaged him and said, oh, you know, it's not here.
Speaker 2: Maybe you left another job.
Speaker 1: Then he texted an emoji.
Speaker 2: He put one of those kiss face emojis, the little
Speaker 2: moojis with a little blowing out heart, and then he
Speaker 2: apologized for sending the emoji, said it was an accident,
Speaker 2: and I said it was okay. I didn't mind. And
Speaker 2: then he sent another.
Speaker 1: One that made her laugh.
Speaker 2: Seeing that little emoji made me feel a little bit like, Okay,
Speaker 2: we just started texting. We just started talking, just general things.
Speaker 1: Mark's texts were a welcomed distraction.
Speaker 2: I didn't have to think about my marriage ending. I
Speaker 2: didn't have to think about all the stresses that brought on.
Speaker 1: They started flirting and bantering over text.
Speaker 2: And it made me feel good. It made me feel,
Speaker 2: Oh my god, you know somebody could actually care about me.
Speaker 1: They started talking on the phone sometimes too. After a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: He messaged and said, oh, I've got a job around
Speaker 2: the corner, come on pop in for a coffee, and
Speaker 2: I was like, my gosh, yeah, sure, come over.
Speaker 1: Ten minutes later, she heard a knock on her door.
Speaker 1: When she opened it, Mark was standing in front of her, smiling.
Speaker 1: They'd been flirting for weeks, and now in person she
Speaker 1: clearly felt the chemistry.
Speaker 2: The first thing he did was put me up against
Speaker 2: the wall and kissed me, which of course blew me
Speaker 2: off my feet, like, oh my gosh, I've never had
Speaker 2: that before.
Speaker 1: He's all was nervous that hanging out in person might
Speaker 1: turn out to be an awkward endeavor, but to her surprise,
Speaker 1: we got on.
Speaker 2: We laughed and it was nice. There was no awkward silences.
Speaker 2: If there was a silence, it was comfortable.
Speaker 1: After that day, they started hanging out more often.
Speaker 2: He would come and see me whilst I was working nights,
Speaker 2: whilst I was studying. He was making me laugh.
Speaker 1: She had spent years in her marriage taking care of
Speaker 1: her ex husband. Mark was a breath of fresh air.
Speaker 2: It was different with Mark. It was so much affection.
Speaker 2: We said it was a passion night neither one of
Speaker 2: us had felt before.
Speaker 1: Mark made her feel sexy and wanted. Before long, they
Speaker 1: started dating officially. When Mark got off work, he would
Speaker 1: go to Hazel's place and they would spend their evenings together.
Speaker 1: Mark made even mundane things feel exciting.
Speaker 2: Mark was stupid funny. He would make a twat out
Speaker 2: of himself and you would just be laughing at him
Speaker 2: rather than with him. He'd start doing really sinny dances
Speaker 2: around the house. If a song came on, he'd start
Speaker 2: stripping his clothes off, and I'm just sat there like,
Speaker 2: what are you doing? But it was really funny and
Speaker 2: we just got on. It just felt so natural, and
Speaker 2: that laughter got me through.
Speaker 1: Mark texted Hazel all the time. He didn't hide his
Speaker 1: feelings for her.
Speaker 2: He would draw hearts on his phone and tell me
Speaker 2: how beautiful I was. He would send a message and
Speaker 2: he would say ill and then dash dash dash you,
Speaker 2: And I was like, well, is that like or is
Speaker 2: that love? Obviously it was love.
Speaker 1: When he wasn't around, she missed him.
Speaker 2: There was passion there that I'd never felt before, and
Speaker 2: it felt really nice. It felt wonderful.
Speaker 1: She finally found someone that could meet her halfway.
Speaker 2: He had a stable job with a big company. The
Speaker 2: pension was really good, and obviously I was training to
Speaker 2: be a social worker.
Speaker 1: As time went on, Hazel started imagining what life with
Speaker 1: Mark could look like.
Speaker 2: I thought that this is great. Neither ofs have got children.
Speaker 2: We could have two good incomes. He's got a stable job,
Speaker 2: He's funny, he makes me laugh, he makes me feel
Speaker 2: good about myself. There's a future here.
Speaker 1: Hazel's friends were worried about how fast their relationship was moving.
Speaker 2: One of my friends, Vicki, said it's too quick. It's
Speaker 2: too fast. She said it would be headline in the newspapers.
Speaker 2: Meagered by the guests man, you know, jokingly, but Hazel
Speaker 2: wasn't amused. Come on, sometimes things happen like this. You know.
Speaker 1: It was a big extreme. But her friend was suspicious,
Speaker 1: and she had a good reason to be worried. A
Speaker 1: few days after Hazel's husband moved out, she called the
Speaker 1: gas company to fix her hot water. That led to
Speaker 1: a meet cute with a man named Mark. After weeks
Speaker 1: flirting over text, their relationship developed into something real. They
Speaker 1: began hanging out whenever they could find time.
Speaker 2: I thought that this is great. He's got a stable job,
Speaker 2: he's funny, he makes me laugh, he makes me feel
Speaker 2: good about myself. There's a future here.
Speaker 1: The only complication was that he lived thirty minutes away,
Speaker 1: but luckily he was often in her town for work.
Speaker 1: They would make a date of it.
Speaker 2: I would cook for him, he would come over. He
Speaker 2: made me feel good about myself, telling me how beautiful
Speaker 2: I was and how wonderful I was, and how we
Speaker 2: were perfect for each other.
Speaker 1: At the time, he is always still in school training
Speaker 1: to be a social worker. Her schedule was packed. It
Speaker 1: helped that Mark was always willing to make the drive
Speaker 1: to her place.
Speaker 2: I was so busy, I was studying, working, so it
Speaker 2: just worked. It just fitted.
Speaker 1: But Mark had to work early mornings, so he rarely
Speaker 1: spent the night.
Speaker 2: There was one day, for some reason, I think I
Speaker 2: needed to go and get something from the shop. So
Speaker 2: it was about half six so I was drive into
Speaker 2: the shop and I saw Mark walking his dog in
Speaker 2: my area.
Speaker 1: This was weird. Why would Mark be walking his dog
Speaker 1: so far from his own house?
Speaker 2: And I stopped the car and I was like, what
Speaker 2: are you doing around here? And he said, oh, oh,
Speaker 2: my uncle lives around the corner, so sometimes I'll bring
Speaker 2: the dog over and walk the dog around here. It's
Speaker 2: got a really nice dog walking field of that. Okay,
Speaker 2: a bit weird, but all right.
Speaker 1: He'd never mentioned he had family in her area, but
Speaker 1: that made things even more convenient. A few days later,
Speaker 1: Mark came over to Hazel's house. She went outside and
Speaker 1: greeted him as he got out of his truck. As
Speaker 1: she hugged him, her eyes landed on the front seat.
Speaker 2: I saw an Amazon parcel with an address on it
Speaker 2: two roads from where I live.
Speaker 1: Mark lived a half hour away. Why would he have
Speaker 1: a package addressed to a home in her neighborhood.
Speaker 2: I thought maybe he'd just got it delivered to his
Speaker 2: uncle's house. Maybe that was easier for him. I don't know.
Speaker 1: She made a mental note of the address. Hazel and
Speaker 1: Mark had been dating for months. They'd become a part
Speaker 1: of each other's daily lives. Many nights after work they'd
Speaker 1: walk her dog Reco together. Mark loved Rico as much
Speaker 1: as she did, and when they weren't together, they texted
Speaker 1: and called each other constantly.
Speaker 2: Talking on the phone all the time. Texting all the time.
Speaker 2: If we ran out of things to say, we would
Speaker 2: just send hearts to each other. Then we'd play games
Speaker 2: and things on Snapchat if she's easy.
Speaker 1: For the first time in a long time, Hazel felt
Speaker 1: settled in her life. She decided to buy the house
Speaker 1: she'd been renting for the past few years, and she
Speaker 1: started to consider asking Mark to take a big step
Speaker 1: with her.
Speaker 2: I thought about him moving in here, living together, having
Speaker 2: a stable relationship, which I hadn't had in such a
Speaker 2: long time.
Speaker 1: One day, Hazel went on a hike with one of
Speaker 1: her friends.
Speaker 2: We went to a place. It's called Simmons Yat and
Speaker 2: it's a big lake, big forest, and we walked around
Speaker 2: the woods. Such a beautiful place.
Speaker 1: After a few hours of hiking and catching up, they
Speaker 1: headed home. On their drive back, she spotted what looked
Speaker 1: like Mark's work van.
Speaker 2: He was parked on the side of the road.
Speaker 1: Hazel did a double take. What was Mark doing out here?
Speaker 1: Maybe it wasn't him, But as they drove closer, she
Speaker 1: was sure it was Mark, and he was out of his.
Speaker 2: Van and he was looking in his van, and we
Speaker 2: just prod on driving.
Speaker 1: Over the next few weeks, Hazel started seeing Mark's work
Speaker 1: fan more and more. When she asked him about it,
Speaker 1: he said he had a lot of repairs in the area,
Speaker 1: but how many boilers could be broken on her street.
Speaker 2: I felt really uneasy after he said that, but I thought, no,
Speaker 2: it's fine, it's fine.
Speaker 1: One weekend, Mark told Hazel he was going on a trip.
Speaker 2: He was going to his friend's house that was in
Speaker 2: the middle of nowhere, and he was spending all weekend
Speaker 2: there and he was repiping the whole house, so he
Speaker 2: wasn't able to talk to me. So I was like,
Speaker 2: that's fine, that's no problem.
Speaker 1: She knew he couldn't talk while he was at his
Speaker 1: friend's house, but she figured his drive there would be
Speaker 1: a great time to catch.
Speaker 2: Up, so I was like, I'll ring him on the way.
Speaker 1: She called Mark. Usually he picked up right away, but
Speaker 1: this time it went to voicemail.
Speaker 2: He didn't answer, so I thought, Okay, something's not right.
Speaker 2: He always answers the phone. The phone has rung, so
Speaker 2: he's got signal.
Speaker 1: Hazel had a bad feeling. She got back to the
Speaker 1: Amazon package on his front seat. It was addressed to
Speaker 1: a street just around the corner, so I thought.
Speaker 2: Right, I'm going to get in my car and then
Speaker 2: to drive down that road.
Speaker 1: She drove down the road, scanning each driveway nervously. She
Speaker 1: wasn't sure what she was looking for or if she'd
Speaker 1: find anything. After a few minutes, she saw something that
Speaker 1: made her hit the brakes.
Speaker 2: I saw his van parked on the drive.
Speaker 1: She drove closer, and sure enough, it was his license plate.
Speaker 2: We're talking two minutes two minute drive from my house.
Speaker 1: He said he was with a friend far away in
Speaker 1: the countryside with no phone service, but his car was
Speaker 1: parked right down the street from her. She texted Mark
Speaker 1: and told him she saw his van parked in the neighborhood.
Speaker 2: He then went into kind of panic mode. He told
Speaker 2: me that he'd gone up the road to find some
Speaker 2: signal to ring me.
Speaker 1: Mark insisted that he was visiting his friend, that he
Speaker 1: was miles away.
Speaker 2: He's like, I'll send you my location.
Speaker 1: He sent her a screenshot of a map.
Speaker 2: He'd gone on to Google Maps and he'd sent me
Speaker 2: a screenshot, and it was a little dot in the
Speaker 2: middle of nowhere.
Speaker 1: For a second, it did look like Mark was in
Speaker 1: the countryside, a small dot surrounded by big green fields.
Speaker 1: But as Hazel looked closer, at the screenshot, she noticed
Speaker 1: something was off.
Speaker 2: He'd cropped out the time and the date. I said,
Speaker 2: I'm not stupid. I know you're not there right now.
Speaker 2: If you were there right now, you wouldn't have cropped
Speaker 2: out at the time. He carried on making up more nices,
Speaker 2: telling me I'm being paranoid. Everything was in my head.
Speaker 1: But Hazel was staring straight at his van. She was
Speaker 1: certain this was real. Whenever Mark came to Hazel's he
Speaker 1: parked on the street. But here, at this house, he
Speaker 1: was parked in the driveway. Did Mark live here? It
Speaker 1: all felt suspicious, and he was clearly.
Speaker 2: Lying to her, this is it. I can't be in
Speaker 2: another relationship where there's this honesty. Once the trust is gone,
Speaker 2: the trust is gone, you can't get it back. I said,
Speaker 2: I'm done. I'm done. It's over. I can't do this anymore.
Speaker 1: As soon as she said that, Mark's tone shifted. He
Speaker 1: responded right away and began telling Hazel that this was
Speaker 1: all her fault.
Speaker 2: It's all because of my ex husband. Why I'm so broken.
Speaker 2: I don't deserve him, really, just the horrible, horrible messages.
Speaker 1: No matter what he said to her, Hazel knew what
Speaker 1: she'd seen he was lying, and she'd caught him in
Speaker 1: the act. That's when Mark stopped pretending. He admitted that
Speaker 1: he lived in that house just two minutes away from her.
Speaker 2: Ob Jove passed his size every day.
Speaker 1: At this point, Mark knew all his lives were unraveling,
Speaker 1: so he admitted the full truth.
Speaker 2: He then told me about his girlfriend and his daughter.
Speaker 2: I was in a state of shock.
Speaker 1: Lying about where he lived was one thing, but this
Speaker 1: was so much darker than that. Mark was lying about
Speaker 1: his entire light.
Speaker 2: He lives in the same area as me, and he's
Speaker 2: been lying from day one. Hazel was disgusted, but then
Speaker 2: reflecting on it, it all makes sense. Never spent the night,
Speaker 2: you know. I thought it was because it fitted in
Speaker 2: with me, and it fitted in with.
Speaker 1: My work really well.
Speaker 2: But clear made sense, And Wyna, did I not clock
Speaker 2: on to Yeah, there's probably somebody else.
Speaker 1: Mark was grasping extras trying to get her back. He
Speaker 1: told her he would leave his family for her.
Speaker 2: And when she said she didn't want that, trying to
Speaker 2: blame me. Maybe think it was all in my head,
Speaker 2: you know, real gaslighting, horrible behavior.
Speaker 1: Mark was being cruel in a way. She had never
Speaker 1: experienced before.
Speaker 2: And I was like, I'm done, get stuff, get out
Speaker 2: my house. I don't want you anyone near me.
Speaker 1: At the time, Hazel was working at a women's center
Speaker 1: where she was training to be a social worker.
Speaker 2: Which was the perfect place for me to be going
Speaker 2: through all this because I had on hands support and
Speaker 2: they advised me to not block people. Don't block people
Speaker 2: like that because if they don't have a channel of communication,
Speaker 2: that's when they start turning up, and then obviously you
Speaker 2: were at bigger risk. So I didn't block him.
Speaker 1: Mark was messaging her incessantly, biding her, trying everything to
Speaker 1: get her attention.
Speaker 2: It was horrendous. It brought back so many feelings that
Speaker 2: I'd kind of buried from my relationship with my husband.
Speaker 2: I felt all the anxiety was coming back, mistrust, I
Speaker 2: felt sick, I couldn't eat, I lost so much weight.
Speaker 1: Mark was getting increasingly agitated and desperate. Then she got
Speaker 1: an alarming message from him.
Speaker 2: Saying that he'd had a heart attack and was in
Speaker 2: hospital and he'd almost died, and I thought, oh my god,
Speaker 2: have I done this? I felt awful. I messaged him
Speaker 2: back and said, you know you're going to be okay.
Speaker 1: You're in the right place, Mark responded right away. He
Speaker 1: told her that he was about to go in for
Speaker 1: heart surgery.
Speaker 2: He was texting me from his hospital bed, saying that
Speaker 2: he was being pushed towards theater and that he could
Speaker 2: see the lights above his head because he was led flat.
Speaker 2: That's all he was trying to focus on.
Speaker 1: Hazel's concern melted away and was replaced by skepticism.
Speaker 2: I've had enough operations in my life to know you
Speaker 2: don't take your phone to an operating data All your
Speaker 2: belongings get bagged up and they get put safely away somewhere.
Speaker 2: So I was like, come on, at this point, I'm
Speaker 2: just like, this is bullshit. This isn't true.
Speaker 1: When Hazel ignored Mark's texts, she started getting harassing, coercive
Speaker 1: messages from unknown numbers.
Speaker 2: I then got messages on Facebook signal and I messages
Speaker 2: pleading apologizing.
Speaker 1: When she first met Mark, she thought he was her
Speaker 1: ticket get out of a dark period of her life,
Speaker 1: but now he was pulling her further and deeper into
Speaker 1: despair and isolation.
Speaker 2: I was managing to eat crackers and drink water. That
Speaker 2: was all I could kind of keep down is the
Speaker 2: time and that just kind of escalated, and you know,
Speaker 2: I was already kind of burning out with what I
Speaker 2: was doing, but then not being able to eat and
Speaker 2: keep food down, I was just burning out even more.
Speaker 1: She decided to get on a dating app.
Speaker 2: I think I was just looking for somebody to make
Speaker 2: me feel better because I couldn't make myself feel better.
Speaker 1: She matched with a few guys and started messaging one
Speaker 1: of them more regularly. Eventually they moved their conversation off
Speaker 1: the app and on to Facebook Messenger.
Speaker 2: But then I started getting messages from Mark about the
Speaker 2: things that I was saying with this guy. My private
Speaker 2: message is to this guy. He knew the bloat's name,
Speaker 2: he knew what the context we were talking about. He
Speaker 2: said that we were talking about awful things.
Speaker 1: Hazel was scared.
Speaker 2: How do you know that I haven't spoken to you?
Speaker 2: And he's like, the guy's messaged me and told me
Speaker 2: and sent me screenshots.
Speaker 1: But this guy didn't even know that Mark existed. That's
Speaker 1: when it dawned on Hazel.
Speaker 2: You've hacked into my Facebook.
Speaker 1: She changed her Facebook password, but that was only a
Speaker 1: temporary solution. She was getting calls and texts from unknown
Speaker 1: numbers at all hours of the day.
Speaker 2: The messages carried on, and then it got kind of
Speaker 2: really nasty, so he started calling me a whore, started
Speaker 2: calling me a slut for moving on so quickly.
Speaker 1: Mark's behavior was escalating. Hazel decided to reach out for support.
Speaker 2: I ran one oh one, which is our non emergency
Speaker 2: police line, but they said they've gotten a way of
Speaker 2: tracking him, trying my network provider. My network provider did
Speaker 2: offer for me have block numbers stopped, but actually, sometimes
Speaker 2: important people wing on block numbers, the police ring on
Speaker 2: block numbers, the doctors do so actually that would be
Speaker 2: impacting my life more.
Speaker 1: So, Hazel was left to deal with Mark on her own.
Speaker 1: Knowing that he lived in her neighborhood was terrifying. She
Speaker 1: was scared he was hiding around every corner.
Speaker 2: I couldn't drive past his house, so I was doing
Speaker 2: a detour. Every time I saw one of those vans,
Speaker 2: I'd get panic attacks.
Speaker 1: She remembered how often she ran into him when they
Speaker 1: were dating. Now she wondered, had that really been a coincidence.
Speaker 1: She checked to find my friends on her phone and
Speaker 1: saw that market access to her location, but she'd never
Speaker 1: given it to him.
Speaker 2: He must have got my phone at some point while
Speaker 2: we were together and set my location so he could
Speaker 2: see it.
Speaker 1: He was tracking her, and maybe he'd been tracking her
Speaker 1: since the very beginning. She didn't know what else he knew,
Speaker 1: or what other ways he might be watching her.
Speaker 2: I didn't feel safe. It was horrible, it was invasive.
Speaker 1: She lived in a state of paranoia for months.
Speaker 2: One morning, I'd come downstairs and we've got candles. They're
Speaker 2: called Imperial candles, and they smell absolutely beautiful, and they've
Speaker 2: got jewelry inside. So I'd gone downstairs and the candle
Speaker 2: had burnt down enough that I could get the jewey out.
Speaker 1: He's all stood by the breakfast bar fishing out the
Speaker 1: jewelry from the candle.
Speaker 2: So I was stood there for quite a while because
Speaker 2: they're quite hard to get out.
Speaker 1: Then she heard something.
Speaker 2: I heard noise.
Speaker 1: She looked up slowly in the corner of her living room.
Speaker 1: She kept a pet camera.
Speaker 2: I always had the camera pointing at the front door
Speaker 2: because that was where Rico would always owl.
Speaker 1: But now the camera was turning slowly looking around the room.
Speaker 1: Somebody was controlling it remotely. When it was pointing directly
Speaker 1: at her, the camera stopped and.
Speaker 2: I just froze, I think he's in my camera.
Speaker 1: After Hazel broke up with Mark, he began harassing her.
Speaker 1: It started with incessant text messages and calls, then he
Speaker 1: hacked into her Facebook account, and then one morning, Hazel
Speaker 1: was in her living room when she heard her pet
Speaker 1: camera move. Someone was controlling it remotely. When it was
Speaker 1: pointing directly at her, the camera stopped and I just
Speaker 1: stood and I just froze.
Speaker 2: I didn't know what to do.
Speaker 1: She grabbed her phone and logged into the pet camera app.
Speaker 2: And it said two viewers, so me and somebody else.
Speaker 2: Now I didn't live with anyone else, never given the
Speaker 2: access to anybody. No one else should have had any
Speaker 2: access to the camera.
Speaker 1: This had to be Mark. And with the camera pointed
Speaker 1: straight at her, she knew he was watching her. That
Speaker 1: very moment.
Speaker 2: I thought, okay, just trying a normal I picked up
Speaker 2: my keys, I picked up my phone, and I just
Speaker 2: left the house.
Speaker 1: He's always rattled.
Speaker 2: What's going to happen next? I don't know what to do.
Speaker 2: If I hut off my camera, is he going to
Speaker 2: start turning up?
Speaker 1: She ran through options in her mind.
Speaker 2: I deleted all of his message years. At one point
Speaker 2: because I didn't want to read the mcgannal, didn't want
Speaker 2: to relive it. So I thought, okay, if I ring
Speaker 2: the police, I've got no evidence, so it's my word
Speaker 2: against his.
Speaker 1: Eventually she decided to confront Mark directly.
Speaker 2: I messaged him and I said, I know you've been
Speaker 2: on my camera. I know you've been watching me.
Speaker 1: Enter her surprise, they admitted it.
Speaker 2: He said that it was because he missed me so
Speaker 2: much and it didn't know how else for me to
Speaker 2: be part of his life.
Speaker 1: His words were alarming, but he's all gained something valuable.
Speaker 1: I had evidence he'd admitted in writing what he'd done
Speaker 1: and why he did it. He's all reported him to
Speaker 1: the police.
Speaker 2: The police came out to see me the next day,
Speaker 2: took a full statement, asked me what I wanted to do,
Speaker 2: and they gave me three options. They said they can
Speaker 2: have a word with him and tell him to stop.
Speaker 2: They can, or they can just record it in case
Speaker 2: something else happens, and then they've got a bigger picture.
Speaker 2: And I sat there and I just thought, if something
Speaker 2: else happens.
Speaker 1: Her mind went to dark places. What did they mean
Speaker 1: if something else happens?
Speaker 2: And that kind of sat with me, and I thought
Speaker 2: it's escalated to the point already, which is horrendous. Didn't
Speaker 2: feel safe in my own home.
Speaker 1: So she told the police she'd made her decision.
Speaker 2: You've got to arrest him because I don't know where
Speaker 2: this is going to end. He's a liar, he's a manipulator,
Speaker 2: and he's an abuser, and I don't think he'll stop
Speaker 2: unless he's made to still.
Speaker 1: A few days later, Mark was arrested.
Speaker 2: He'd been arrested on suspicion of stalking and arrestment.
Speaker 1: He still knew he was still employed by the gas company.
Speaker 1: She called them and explained that Mark was a liar
Speaker 1: ability to their customer's safety.
Speaker 2: I was just trying to get my point across and
Speaker 2: say that this man is dangerous and you've got him
Speaker 2: going into people's homes and you need to get him out.
Speaker 2: They said it was the wireless heating system company's problem.
Speaker 1: So Hazel called them, and then.
Speaker 2: They said it's the gas company's problem. So I was
Speaker 2: just getting bound from the two companies and I was
Speaker 2: on the phone for als.
Speaker 1: This pathway wasn't working. Nobody she spoke to and knew
Speaker 1: how to help with Mark's trial coming up, Hazel decided
Speaker 1: she wanted her story to serve a broader purpose. She
Speaker 1: wanted to spread awareness about stalking and perpetrators like Mark.
Speaker 1: Before Mark's trial, Hazel reached out to her local newspaper.
Speaker 2: To make sure there was a reporter there because I
Speaker 2: thought this isn't going under the carpet.
Speaker 1: On the day of Mark's trial, Hazel went to court.
Speaker 2: I felt that I needed to be there to show
Speaker 2: him that he hadn't broken me. I had probably about
Speaker 2: seven or eight friends with me that had come to
Speaker 2: be there and to support me. I read my victim
Speaker 2: impact statement, and my hands they were really really shaking.
Speaker 1: There was overwhelming evidence of Marx's harassment and stalking, including
Speaker 1: his own confession to Hazel.
Speaker 2: He played guilty. He got an eighteen week prison sentence
Speaker 2: suspended for twelve months. He got an indefinite restraining order
Speaker 2: preventing any contact with myself, and he's not allowed in
Speaker 2: my road.
Speaker 1: Two days later, the local newspaper reported on Hazel's story
Speaker 1: and Mark's crimes. Over the coming weeks and months, the
Speaker 1: story spread to other outlets across the UK.
Speaker 2: I had paper writing to me and magazine's writing to me.
Speaker 1: We've had voice actors read some of the headlines. We've
Speaker 1: anatomized the name of Mark's former employer, gas engineer who
Speaker 1: hacked into excess pet camera to spy on her avoids jail.
Speaker 1: This is what it's like to be stocked in your
Speaker 1: own hall. Gloucestershire woman's full account of how ex gas
Speaker 1: engineer hacked into her cameras after fixing her boiler. Gas
Speaker 1: engineer stocked ex girlfriend by hacking pet camera inside her home.
Speaker 1: Telling her story was challenging at first, but she has
Speaker 1: continued to tell it because she knows how important it
Speaker 1: is to put language to her experience.
Speaker 2: I didn't think of harassment and stalking. I just saw
Speaker 2: it as he's got a screw loose and he just
Speaker 2: needs to leave me alone. It wasn't until the police
Speaker 2: said stalking and harassment that I really started to reflect
Speaker 2: on what I had gone through and how serious it was.
Speaker 1: When Mark showed up at her house to fix her boiler,
Speaker 1: Hazel was at her most vulnerable when she was talking
Speaker 1: with her friend about her divorce. Mark was in the
Speaker 1: next room.
Speaker 2: He was listening to everything. He told me that later
Speaker 2: on he was listening to the fact that I was crying.
Speaker 1: He heard her desperation, and just hours later he swooped
Speaker 1: in and started flirting with her. Mark saw Hazel was lost.
Speaker 1: Because of that, she'd make the perfect target. One night,
Speaker 1: Hazel got a call from an unknown number and I.
Speaker 2: Was like, oh my god, the restraining order hasn't worked.
Speaker 2: None of this has worked. He thinks he can message
Speaker 2: me again and ring me.
Speaker 1: Nervously, she picked up the phone. She braced herself to
Speaker 1: hear Mark's voice. Instead, it was the CEO of the
Speaker 1: gas company.
Speaker 2: And he said he'd read the article. He terminated Mark's
Speaker 2: contract with immediate effect. He already had people going to
Speaker 2: his house to collect the van, collect all the equipment,
Speaker 2: and he was very sympathetic as to what happened.
Speaker 1: The gas company connected her with mental health services.
Speaker 2: They gave me counseling through their counseling service, which helped
Speaker 2: me a lot use CBT, which really did change my
Speaker 2: view on him. He wasn't scary anymore. He was just
Speaker 2: this little pathetic man that it's just not worth my time,
Speaker 2: my thought, my energy.
Speaker 1: Even though it had taken a stocking conviction, it was
Speaker 1: meaningful that the company reached out to support her.
Speaker 2: I received an apology and lots of reassurance, and they
Speaker 2: actually use that case now in training moving forward, so
Speaker 2: that's really positive. I think if something like that happened
Speaker 2: again that maybe it would be dealt with differently.
Speaker 1: Hazel suspects that Mark's girlfriend found out that he was
Speaker 1: cheating on her. After Hazel broke up with him, she
Speaker 1: learned that his girlfriend had also kicked him out of
Speaker 1: the house. But more recently, Hazel saw Mark and his
Speaker 1: girlfriend together in their driveway. That means Mark is still
Speaker 1: two roads away.
Speaker 2: So I drive past his house mose days, but I
Speaker 2: do it with my head held high. He didn't win.
Speaker 1: Hazel has a permanent restraining order against Mark. He's not
Speaker 1: allowed on her road, but that only offers so much protection.
Speaker 1: It was scary knowing that Mark lived around the corner.
Speaker 1: For a while, Hazel thought about moving, but in the
Speaker 1: end she decided to stay. It didn't seem right that
Speaker 1: she should be the one forced out of their neighborhood.
Speaker 1: For Hazel, staying in her home symbolizes.
Speaker 2: Didn't win this. He didn't break me.
Speaker 1: She didn't want Mark to be the reason she loved
Speaker 1: a place she loves deeply. She wanted to rebuild and
Speaker 1: make her home somewhere she felt comfortable again, so she
Speaker 1: decided to renovate.
Speaker 2: I completely ripped out everything and started again. I kind
Speaker 2: of took back the safety of my house and made
Speaker 2: it so different that if he walked in air and
Speaker 2: now I would recognize it.
Speaker 1: She refuses to uproot her life because of what Mark did. Instead,
Speaker 1: she's leaned into her community and shifted her mindset.
Speaker 2: It's made me stronger. I will not take any shit.
Speaker 2: I won't I will not put up with anything. I
Speaker 2: will not be told I can't do something or be
Speaker 2: spoken about disrespectfully by anybody.
Speaker 1: Knowing the realities of stalking and harassment firsthand has informed
Speaker 1: her career.
Speaker 2: It's made me a better social worker in cases like this.
Speaker 2: I will share some of my story with some families.
Speaker 2: We'll sit and we'll talk about red flags.
Speaker 1: We asked Hazel to share the signs she encourages people
Speaker 1: to look out for.
Speaker 2: The massive one is love bombing. If somebody is in
Speaker 2: love with you after a couple of days, run for
Speaker 2: the hills. Like run for the hills, you can't be
Speaker 2: in love with somebody after a couple of days.
Speaker 1: We had every weekly episode with the same question, why
Speaker 1: do you want to share your story.
Speaker 2: What happened to me? I lighted the gaps in how
Speaker 2: people are protected. There's professionals that are coming into your home.
Speaker 2: You would expect them to be safe. You would expect
Speaker 2: them to have checks done on them, to know that
Speaker 2: they are safe to be entered in people's homes. This
Speaker 2: isn't just my story. It's about awareness, accountability and reminds
Speaker 2: in people to put their safety first.
Speaker 1: On the next episode of Betrayal Weekly, my sister starts
Speaker 1: receiving these text messages from an unknown number. Who else
Speaker 1: is getting these messages? Why did it start with us?
Speaker 1: If you'd like to share your story on Betrayal, please
Speaker 1: email Betrayalpod at gmail dot com. That is Betrayalpod at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com. Please note that we are not a
Speaker 1: mental health organization. If you are in crisis or currently
Speaker 1: experiencing domestic violence, we encourage you to seek local help
Speaker 1: dial nine to one one. Please contact organizations that offer
Speaker 1: immediate support and our show notes, we've included a list
Speaker 1: of US based resources. You can follow us on Instagram
Speaker 1: at Betrayal Pod or find me at It's Andrea Gunning
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Speaker 1: The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fason,
Speaker 1: hosted and produced by me Andrea Gunning, written and produced
Speaker 1: by Olivia Hewitt. Our story editor is Monique Leboord, also
Speaker 1: produced by Benfai Betterman. Our associate producer is Leah Jablow.
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Speaker 1: editing by Tanner Robbins with additional editing and mixing by
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