Manchester City presenter Natalie Pike has revealed she was stalked for eight months, culminating in a man pleading guilty to stalking involving serious alarm or distress. The 43-year-old broadcaster shared her ordeal on social media after the man was sentenced at the end of September.
Pike's ordeal began when she spotted a man standing uncomfortably close to the barriers during City's 2-1 win over Newcastle in February. She said: "I just had a sense that something wasn't right. So I looked over my shoulder, and I instantly saw him – the man from the picture." She had found the picture on Instagram following a traumatic eight days.
Investigation and Arrest
Prior to the match incident, Pike's phone had a spate of missed calls from her hairdresser and her eight-year-old son's school after two men had pulled up in a van outside the salon, saying they knew Pike as a customer and demanded to know where she lived. The hairdresser alerted the school, which was just down the road.
Pike said she trawled through hidden Instagram messages and noticed a large amount from one account over 18 months. She recalled: "They began in the usual way: 'Happy birthday', 'You're beautiful', that kind of thing. Then they started deteriorating. So I took a screenshot of this person's profile, sent it to my hairdresser, and she instantly confirmed it was the same man she had seen."
The same man appeared at City, but by the time Pike had a clear view, he had bounded up the stairs to the concourse. She said: "I ran up to the public address announcer's room, and I had my first experience of a panic attack. I stood in a corner, burst out crying, and I just couldn't catch my breath."
Police Action and Court Outcome
Police took the report seriously and used stadium CCTV to trace the man's steps. Pike said: "There was a moment when they traced his steps coming into the ground, and it was harrowing to watch. He never took his eyes off me. He came in at the back of the stand and then, over a 20-minute period, moved down and stopped several times until he was about a metre away from me."
The man was arrested the morning after the match. Pike later found out he had been messaging her best friend, her husband, and other people she knows. Police found pictures of him in a pub near her house and photographs of her ex-husband's car.
Following the guilty plea, Pike said in her social media statement: "At the end of September, an individual was sentenced after pleading guilty to stalking me, involving serious alarm or distress. The court imposed a custodial sentence, suspended, alongside other requirements and a restraining order preventing him from contacting me directly or indirectly."
Support and Message to Others
Pike thanked the police, Manchester City, and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust for their support. She said: "I want to say a huge thank you to the police, who took what was happening to me seriously from the moment I reported it. I felt listened to, believed and supported throughout."
She also said: "One of the main reasons I have decided to speak publicly about this is because I want anyone who is experiencing stalking to know that there is help and support available. My experience of reporting this to the police was a positive one. I was listened to, believed and taken seriously from the very beginning."
Pike chose to attend court and read her Victim Personal Statement without a screen. She said: "I needed him to hear from me the impact his actions had had on my life. But I also needed to do it for myself. I wanted to take some of my power back. What happened to me has affected me, but it will not define me."
She concluded: "We cannot always control the actions of other people. But we can refuse to let their actions decide the life we get to live."
