Desperate Measures
By early January 2009 my patience had run out. The shifts in character between vindictiveness and apologetic had become more frequent and rapid, and I was being implicated in the most innocuous of daily events (such as the actions of people walking the streets, assorted objects appearing here and there, computer problems etc...). I spoke about it all to a friend who's a medical practitioner and he suggested it was quite likely that I was dealing with someone who was suffering with paranoid psychosis - and if this was indeed the case I needed to be very careful indeed.
In late January a message appeared on her business website, smarterscience.com, announcing "Hacked by you know who. heh heh." Shortly afterwards another message appeared which read "We report that the owner of SmarterScience passed away yesterday afternoon. Obviously, SmarterScience therewith ceases to exist. Heh heh". It might have been plausible were it not for the fact that other pages on the site were updated in the meantime with legitimate content.
I had tried reasoning with
her, I had tried being helpful and I'd even tried being firm - nothing
had worked.
I collated all the correspondence, messages and forum posts and took
them along to a police station to ask for advice and was asked to leave
the correspondence with the duty officer and wait to be contacted. I
don't mind admitting that I felt a bit of an idiot, and I expressed
this reservation to the duty officer. However, I was told that it wasn't
uncommon to feel embarrassed and that the police took such matters very
seriously.
A week or so later the police called to arrange a formal interview and
I was asked to make a preliminary statement with a view to their serving
a harassment notice on my behalf.
They explained the procedure and clarified the law with regard to harassment
and then instructed me to respond to her one last time, making it clear
that I had spoken to the police and that any further attempt to communicate
with me would result in their taking action. On Monday, 12th January
2009 I sent Ms Souren the following email:
"I have today ( 12th January 2009 ) spoken to the Hampshire Police Authority regarding your persistent messages and have been advised to inform you of the following: If you contact me again in any fashion either personally or via a third party, or allude to me publicly in any manner, they will issue you with a restraining order which you will be required to sign and adhere to. Should you subsequently break the terms of that order you will be arrested and charged with harassment."
Her response was as follows:
I forwarded her reply to
the police, and on the 7th of February I was asked to make a formal
statement and the harassment notice was served to Ms Souren shortly
after.
I have to say that the police have been very supportive in this difficult
time. The nature of the law and the mental health act in Britain at
present is such that cases like these are not uncommon, and there is
little that can be done until someone does something truly awful. I
appreciate that their hands are tied by the legislation, but I can't
fault their advice and support throughout this sorry business.
Since the notice was served I received a number of communications from Ms Souren - some of which resulted in her being warned by the police that she was in danger of breaching the terms of the harassment notice. I have a small collection of 'anonymous' greetings cards, one being a 'get well soon' card that was sent shortly after Ms Souren posted a series of messages to a saxophone forum indicating a 'local, well-known tech' was ill. All the envelopes bore a Portsmouth postmark and bore aspects identical to later correspondence sent under her name.
At around this time she began firing off emails to others in my trade, repeating various allegations and pleading with them not to refer clients to me. Fortunately her previous rants on various woodwind forums had clearly established her as a loony, and the emails were simply forwarded to me as evidence.
Naturally I forwarded the emails to the police, but the
response was disappointing:
"Neither the Harassment Act or Misuse of Communications Act appears to cover it. The only legislation that comes close is under civil law and that is libel i.e. the written word. These cases are usually resolved by civil injunctions. I am hoping as I am sure you are that she will eventually tire of being ignored and cease."
In July 2009 she emailed the officer in charge of the investigation (whom she had previously accused of being a fake) to complain about financial misdeeds on my part. She was strongly advised to contact her local police and present them with any relevant evidence. No investigations have resulted from any such claims on her part.
In October 2009 a fake profile using my business name appeared on Twitter and a number of strange posts were made. I contacted Twitter in an effort to have the profile removed, but to little effect. I then asked the police to assist, as it seemed likely that Ms Souren was involved, and the profile was taken down a short while later.
In March 2010 it became
clear that she was getting deeper and deeper into financial difficulties
- I received a letter forwarded by her from her letting agents. It was
a demand for overdue rent. On the envelope she had written that I owed
her a significant sum of money. I handed the letter to the police.
In the following weeks I received two more such letters, the third one
stating the landlord's intention to pursue the matter through the courts
on May 19th 2010. The police have arranged to have any further such
mail intercepted at the postal sorting office.
As I write this article, May 19th is less than two weeks away - and
I'm fully expecting it to be 'eventful'...