The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has apologised to Girls Aloud star Nicola Roberts after it failed to prosecute an ex-boyfriend accused of breaching a restraining order by viewing her social media.
Carl Davies, from Flint, was given a lifetime restraining order in May 2017 for stalking the singer, having sent 3,000 messages from 35 fake Twitter accounts following their split in 2008.
He was later charged with breaching the order by viewing Roberts's Instagram posts between July and August 2017, but the CPS dropped the case, citing no realistic prospect of conviction. The judge instead extended the ban to cover social media.
The CPS has now admitted its decision was incorrect. A spokesperson said: "We have written to Ms Roberts to apologise and have taken steps to ensure lessons are learned from the case."
Roberts told the Sunday Times the experience left her "too scared to take the dogs for a walk" and unable to keep her window open at night. She said Davies had followed her again on Instagram after the order, letting her know "he was still watching me".
