-Ruth Jeffery became so ill she was prescribed anti-depressants
-Couple who met a school knew each other for 10 years
By Kerry Mcqueeney
Ultimate betrayal: Shane Webber's online harassment made girlfriend Ruth Jeffery so ill she was prescribed anti-depressantsA woman who suffered a campaign of harassment from an online stalker was devastated when she discovered her tormentor was her own boyfriend.
Shane Webber impersonated Ruth Jeffery online and sent naked photos of her to her friends and family in a three-and-a-half-year campaign which made her so ill she was prescribed anti-depressants.
Despite knowing the effect his stalking was having on his girlfriend's health, Webber continued his campaign, contacting the 22-year-old pretending to to be former schoolmates and sending her sexually explicit photographs and videos.
Clue: Miss Jeffery eventually realised that some of the detail in the messages could only be known to WebberWebber, 22, of Clifton, Nottingham has admitted causing harassment, alarm or distress and will be sentenced next month.
Miss Jeffery, who is from West Bridgford, Notts, but is studying at Loughborough University, said: 'I want him to be put in prison because he has wrecked the past three-and-a-half years of my life.
'I've known him for 10 years, so in a way it feels like the past 10 years have been wasted.
'If there's anything I could have done differently, it would be to have reported it sooner.'
Webber contacted people online impersonating Ruth and pretended to be sexually attracted to them.
He even gave her term-time university address to one of the men, who then turned up at her house.
Online campaign: A doctored image of Webber and his girlfriend. He even hacked into her email account and sent a naked picture of her to her entire contact list, including her own father
Miss Jeffery, now 22, first met Webber when they were both about 11 and attended West Bridgford School.They were in a relationship at school and got back together towards the end of 2007, when she was doing her A-Levels.
Webber, from Clifton, Nottingham dropped out of school when he was 14 and is unemployed.
He began his campaign of abuse by setting up multiple fake e-mail addresses.
He then used these to contact Miss Jeffery on MSN Messenger, pretending to be former schoolmates, and bombarded her with sexually explicit photos and videos.
He also impersonated her and distributed intimate photos of her to her friends and family members. In addition, he posted naked photos of her on adult websites - which she is still trying to have removed.
'Possessive': Ms Jeffery believes jealousy could have been behind Webber's motive for harassing her. She is studying for a degree while he dropped out of school at the age of 14
'He was pretending to be a lot of people,' said Miss Jeffery. 'The first few times it happened, I started getting annoyed by it and I blocked all the names.'It became more frequent. They were all saying very similar things. They were all saying, "I used to fancy you, Ruth. I think you are really good-looking and I want to meet up".
'He created an account very similar to mine and was speaking to people, making out he was me. He was getting information about these people so he could pass this information back to me.'
Miss Jeffery, originally from West Bridgford, is studying for a degree in computer science at Loughborough University.
She says the abuse affected her studies and she has had to retake exams. She said: 'There were times when I phoned up my mum and said, "I don't want to be alive any more". I just didn't want to do anything.
'I've been worried about going out. I've been worried about sending e-mails. I've been worried to drive.
'I've been feeling watched the whole time, because I felt a person was watching me and finding out what I was doing.'
She became so distressed that she had to take increasing doses of anti-depressants, developed symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder and, at times, stopped eating.
She eventually realised that some of the detail in the messages could only be known to her boyfriend. But when confronted by Miss Jeffery and her parents, Webber swore the harassment had nothing to do with him.
He even pointed the finger at one of his friends, who was arrested and had his computer seized by police.
Webber also hacked Miss Jeffery's MSN and Facebook accounts and messaged her via another online messenger called Camfrog. Miss Jeffery reported the abuse to police in March 2010.
She said: 'I started to see pictures of me appearing online that were being sent around. They were on any adult website I could find.'
Webber was finally caught in June this year, when he used Miss Jeffery's own e-mail account to send explicit images of her to her entire contact list - including her father.
The e-mail also directed people to search for further images of her online. Webber was traced through the internet protocol (IP) address of the computer from which the e-mail was sent.
Webber pleaded guilty at Southampton Magistrates' Court to a charge of causing harassment, alarm or distress.
He will be sentenced on October 6.
source:dailymail
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