I was moved by my neighbor’s reflexive gifts, then he became a serial killer ‘and won at my door grabbing a drill

Raising the blinds, Kelly Crosskey closed her eyes as she felt the heat of sunlight flooding her floor.

He had only been a week since he had moved to his new place, but he already felt at home.

6

6

The block was mainly composed of council apartments, but some were rented in private and Kelly’s was one of those.

“I was 28 years old and it was the first floor I had rented on my own and I couldn’t believe my luck,” says Kelly, now 32 years old.

“It was really pretty beautiful.”

While Kelly prepared to go to work as a regional manager in recruitmentHe ran into his new neighbor Darren Cartwright, walked in the community hall.

“I told him good morning and he said it,” he recalls.

“But passing with Darren I felt restless.

“I lived in the apartment directly under me and, although it was friendly enough, it seemed a bit strange.

“I was quite sure I didn’t work and I couldn’t think of any reason why I would be in the lobby at that time in the morning.

“But recently, I realized that when I left, Darren would conveniently seemed to interact with him.”

Trying to be educated, Kelly, from Chichester, West SussexHe continued to be cordial with Cartwright.

“I had the impression that Darren had lived on the floor for a long time and I didn’t want to put myself on the wrong side of my new neighbors,” he admits.

During the first six months, Kelly’s new home was all that he expected to be.

However, as time passed, he discovered that things with cars became more and more strange.

“He often found Darren occupying in the hall off his floor when he went or went,” says Kelly.

“But now, he began to find vague reasons to appear above mine.

“He found a small link to a bracelet or necklace and came to my floor to ask if it was mine.

“It seemed old and Andrajoso, not as something that had been shining on the ground to Darren rescued. Anyway, it was not mine.

“I told him it wasn’t mine and he felt relieved when I heard him padding down.

6

6

6

“The truth was, Darren gave me the spooky.”

Then, a few days later, Cartwright knocked on the door once again, this time offering Kelly to houseplant He had been growing.

“He told me that he had given everyone in the building, so I thanked him and told him that he was kind of his part,” she says.

“I put the plant in the kitchen potter, it was a sweet gesture, but I could not shake the feeling that Darren was only fishing for any excuse to knock on my door.

“His disturbing face and his psychopath sent me chills for my spine and I wanted me to leave me alone.

And for Kelly’s horror, things began to intensify.

“It appeared at my door one day and asked me if I wanted to be in a relationship completely from nothing,” she says.

“I barely told the man who was 14 years older than me and seemed a disheveled.”

But he did not leave Cartwright.

“He told me it would be an exclusive relationship So we couldn’t see anyone else, but it would be Platonic, so we wouldn’t have sex, “says Kelly.

“It was crazy. I couldn’t believe what I was listening, but Darren was serious.

“I told him that it was definitely not going to happen and he closed the door, but I had a horrible feeling that this was not going to be the end.”

And Kelly was right.

She states that Cartwright began playing high music on the ground floor and began to collide and hit her floor.

Then, she says that he began to bomb her with scary messages and messages in Facebook.

“I had obtained my number from my neighbor next door with whom I had changed the details in case my alarm goes out while I was outside or at work,” she says.

“I was crossed with him for giving my data, but Darren was intimidating and, despite being a stranger, he maintained a strange influence among the tenants.

“Darren told me that he hurt his feelings and wanted me to feel as bad as he.

“It was incredible. Darren was behaving as if he had destroyed him after having been in an intense relationship and had had enough of madness. “

Kelly decided to face Cartwright.

“He had tried to be educated, it was time to change the tactics,” she says.

“I told him that we could pretend that it never happened and that we could be civilians.”

But Kelly says his pleas fell on deaf ears.

What to do if you are being harassed

By Emma Kenny, true crime physiologist

Whether the signals are subtle or obvious, trust their instincts. Keep suspicious incident records, inform the people you trust and do not hesitate to seek professional and legal help if you think you are in danger.

His security is essential, no one has the right to make you feel insecure in your own life. The stalking is illegal.

If you think it is in danger or that you are harassed, inform the police immediately: you have the right to feel safe in your home and workplace.

Call 999 if you or someone else is immediately in danger.

You can obtain tips from the national stalking aid line.

National stalking cleaning
Telephone: 0808 802 0300
Monday to Friday from 9:30 am to 4 pm (except Wednesdays from 9:30 am to 8 pm) National stalking cleaning
Find out the calls

“Darren would appear in the hall every time he left the floor and knew that I was monitoring my movements,” she says.

“He shouted at me and shouted for me and when I swore that I could smell it, I even worried that I would have gained access to my floor.

“Everything got too much and installed a ring bell chamber and told Darren that” only he left “the next time I saw him.”

On the edge, Kelly reported Cartwight’s harassment campaign to the police.

“I showed the police the sinister voicemakers, the text messages and the Facebook messages that Darren had sent,” she says.

“But I worried that I wouldn’t take me seriously and it didn’t seem that there was much that the police could do.

“The officer told me that the cases of harassment were very unusual among the people who were not in a relationship.

“But Darren himself had told me that he thought he suffered from schizophrenia and worried that he had fooled himself that we were in some kind of relationship.

“I felt trapped, a prisoner in my own home.”

Three months after Cartwright’s unwanted attention began, Kelly received a notification of his ring bell telling him that someone was at his door.

“Looking at the image from the House of Timbre, I noticed that the first time Darren appeared that he was holding a drill,” Kelly recalls.

He sniffed a little before lowering the stairs. My heart hit my chest, but my relief was short.

“Because moments later, Darren appeared at my door again. This time, he looked directly at my camera, reached the place and plotting his next movement. ”

Terrified, Kelly called the police once more. The responders told him to stay on the phone while they sent again.

But a police visit did not stop Cartwright, who appeared for the third time at Kelly’s door.

She says: “I had never been so scared in my life.

“He carried what can only be described as a serial killer attire, complete with a Halloween mask and grabbing a drill.

“Fortunately, the police appeared in numbers and assaulted the hall.

“Darren said he hadn’t done anything wrong when he was arrested.”

Two months later, Darren Cartwright appeared in the Brighton magistrates, where he denied the harassment that involved a serious alarm and anguish and the case was postponed for a summary trial.

He was declared guilty and retained in Lewes prison before being slapped with a 10 -year restriction order.

But while her stalker had been saved, the horror of the events had contaminated Kelly’s house for her.

“I was so terrified that I moved and built a mobile house,” she says.

“I want to be able to move if I need it and I still suffer from nightmares.

“Darren was the neighbor of hell and I don’t think I will forget the day he came to my door dressed as something from a horror movie.

“But I am the star of my own life and I refuse to live with fear.

“I will not let that masked crazy man win.”

6