My stalker neighbour came for me wearing Halloween-style mask & waving a drill after bombarding me with twisted threats
OPENING up the blinds, I closed my eyes as I felt the warm sunlight flooding into my flat.
I’d moved in just a week earlier and absolutely loved my new pad in the seaside town of Eastbourne, East Sussex.
Kelly Crosskey, 32, reveals how her dream home became a living hellDavid Cummings
She says her neighbour Darren would conveniently appear every time she would pop outMedavia
One night, Darren came to Kelly’s door wearing a Halloween-style mask and holding a drillMedavia
It was the first flat I’d rented on my own and I was surrounded by trees and close to a golf course. I was 28 and single and I couldn’t believe my luck.
The block was mostly made up of council apartments, but a few, including mine on the first floor, were privately rented. I loved my job in recruitment — and now I had my own gorgeous flat to come home to, life was even better.
Slinging my handbag over my shoulder, I grabbed my keys and locked up before heading downstairs.
“Oh, good morning,” I said as I spotted my neighbour, Darren, loitering in the communal hallway.
“Morning,” he smiled back. Darren lived in the flat directly below mine and although he was friendly enough, he seemed a bit odd.
A good ten to 15 years older than me, he was well over 6ft tall, with wild, unkempt hair and dead eyes. He dressed scruffily, like a down and out, and I couldn’t help noticing that he didn’t smell great.
Walking past him towards the main entrance, I felt uneasy. I was pretty sure he didn’t work, so I couldn’t think of any reason he’d be in the lobby first thing in the morning.
In fact, whenever I popped out, Darren would conveniently appear. But not wanting to get on the wrong side of my new neighbours, I was always friendly and polite.
Haunting face
However, over the next six months, things became increasingly weird.
I’d often find Darren busying himself in the hall whenever I was coming or going, but now he’d begun finding reasons to pop upstairs to mine.
“I found this in the car park. Is it yours?” he asked one day.
In his palm was a small link to a bracelet or necklace. But it looked old and tattered, not like something shiny that you’d suddenly spot on the ground.
“No, I don’t recognise it. Thank you, though,” I replied, closing the door to my flat.
I heard his footsteps padding back downstairs and breathed a sigh of relief. Darren was starting to give me the creeps.
A few days later, he knocked on my door again and offered me a pot plant. “I’ve been growing them. I’ve given everyone in the building one,” he said as he passed it to me.
“Oh, thanks. That’s kind,” I told him.
I said goodbye and put the plant on the windowsill. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Darren was fishing for any excuse to knock on my door.
His haunting face and cold, dark eyes sent chills down my spine and I wished he’d just leave me in peace.
He’s not the kind of guy you’d want to meet down a dark alley
“He’s not the kind of guy you’d want to meet down a dark alley,” I told my friends when they popped round one evening. “He scares me.”
I remained polite, hoping that Darren would back off — but things escalated.
“Do you want to be in a relationship?” Darren blurted out when he appeared at my door one day.
“What do you mean?” I gasped.
“It would be an exclusive relationship, we couldn’t see other people. But it would be platonic, so we wouldn’t have sex,” he explained.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but he was serious. “No,” I told Darren firmly. I closed the door, but I had a horrible feeling this wasn’t the end of it.
I was right. Darren started playing loud music at all hours and began crashing and banging around his flat.
‘Hurt feelings’
Next, he bombarded me with terrifying texts and messages on Facebook.
He’d got my mobile number from a neighbour I’d swapped details with in case my alarm went off while I was away.
“You’ve hurt my feelings. I want you to feel as bad as I do,” Darren wrote in one message.
It was unbelievable. He was behaving as if I’d jilted him after a relationship.
Deciding I’d had enough, I went to speak to him.
“Let’s pretend this never happened. We can be civil, but this has to stop,” I said. “Please, Darren.”
I told him that if he didn’t leave me alone, I’d call the police.
But my pleas fell on deaf ears. Darren appeared in the hallway every time I left my flat and would scream and shout abuse at me, calling me a “b***h”.
Stalking cases are highly unusual between people not in a relationship
Police officer
I became paranoid, thinking he’d somehow been inside my flat, as when I got home from work I could swear his smell was lingering in there.
I knew he was monitoring my movements and I was so desperate to avoid him, I’d move around as quietly as I could, hoping he couldn’t hear me.
What to do if you are being stalked
By Emma Kenny, true crime physiologist
Whether the signals are subtle or glaring, trust your instincts. Keep records of suspicious incidents, inform people you trust, and don’t hesitate to reach out for professional and legal help if you believe you’re in danger.
Your safety is paramount, no one has the right to make you feel unsafe in your own life. Stalking is illegal.
If you think you are in danger or being stalked, report it to the police immediately – you have a right to feel safe in your home and workplace.
Call 999 if you or someone else is in immediate danger.
You can get advice from the National Stalking Helpline.
National Stalking HelplineTelephone: 0808 802 0300Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4pm (except Wednesday 9:30am to 8pm) National Stalking HelplineFind out about call charges
‘Neighbour from hell’
I even went to stay with my parents or friends on occasion, just to get away.
Eventually, after Darren picked up my bike and threw it across the road, I installed a doorbell camera to keep an eye on any comings and goings.
“Just f*** off,” I yelled at him the next time I saw him.
I was constantly on edge and after he followed me to the local shop, I reported his harassment to the police.
Kelly says her ordeal has put her off wanting to live aloneDavid Cummings
I showed the policeman the sinister voicemails, texts and Facebook messages Darren had sent. But it didn’t seem as if there was much the police could do.
“Stalking cases are highly unusual between people not in a relationship,” the officer explained.
But I worried he’d convinced himself we were in some kind of relationship. I felt trapped, a prisoner in my own home.
One night I got a notification from my doorbell app. Someone was at the door.
Staring at the image on my phone, I noticed that Darren appeared to be holding a drill. My heart hammered in my chest as he sniffed around for a bit before going back downstairs.
But my relief was short-lived. Moments later, he was back at my door again.
I called the police and told them I was scared.
“Stay on the phone with me Kelly, in case he comes through the door. We’re sending help,” an officer replied.
“In case he comes through the door?” I thought to myself, terrified.
The third time Darren appeared, I’d never been so scared in my life. He was dressed completely in black and was wearing a sinister Halloween-style mask.
And he was still clutching the drill.
At that moment, several police officers showed up and stormed the hallway.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I heard Darren cry as officers arrested him.
He was dressed completely in black and was wearing a sinister Halloween-style mask
Two months later, in December 2021, Darren Cartwright, then 43, appeared at Brighton Magistrates’ Court, where he denied stalking involving serious alarm and distress.
He was found guilty and remanded in Lewes Prison before he was slapped with a ten-year restraining order, banning him from contacting me.
Even though I had mixed emotions about leaving my lovely flat, I felt I had to get out.
So I decided to move out permanently and bought a mobile home, which I still live in today.
I want to be able to move around if I need to as I still suffer from nightmares.
Darren was the neighbour from hell and I don’t think I’ll ever forget the day he arrived on my doorstep dressed like something from a horror movie.
Looking back, I wished I’d contacted the police sooner — the whole ordeal has put me off wanting to live alone again.
If you’re affected by stalking or harassment, you can call the National Stalking Helpline on 0808 8020 300.
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