My parents got me attacker spray, I got an air horn’: Coronation Street star Nicola Thorp reveals how she armed herself during two-year stalking hell by a man with 27 identities

Coronation Street star Nicola Thorpe has revealed how she armed herself with intruder spray and a horn during her two-year pursuit of a man calling himself the “Grim Reaper”.

The 35-year-old actress, who is expecting her first child later this month, has been the target of a relentless stream of online abuse that began in 2018 while she was living alone on a houseboat.

Her stalker, misogynist Ravinderjeet Dhillon, 30, was sentenced to 30 months in prison and a restraining order after appearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London on Tuesday.

Ms Thorpe said she “lived in constant” fear that Dillon, who used 27 different social media accounts to send her abusive messages, would appear in real life. Sunday Times reported.

She told the newspaper: “My parents gave me assault spray, I have an audible alarm and I installed extra locks on the boat.”

Nicola Thorpe said she defended herself using a spray and a horn when she was stalked for two years by a man using multiple identities.

Pregnant actress Thorpe, 34, attended court on Tuesday with fiancée Nikesh Patel

The Blackpool-based broadcaster said the relentless messages, which began in October 2018, would stop for a month or two before resuming with a new account.

She said profiles would either have a blank photo or a photo of her in a bikini, and that Dillon would go by “Asian” names and be constantly obsessed with cancer.

One day he introduced himself as a woman named Helena, a victim of sexual assault at work, and said that he was asking for advice.

Ms Thorpe agreed to meet “Helena” and agreed on a time and date before her abuser revealed it was him weeks later.

Despite being advised by the new Talk TV breakfast host to ignore threatening messages, he said it was “useless advice” and instead kept a log and took screenshots of various accounts that were suspected of being linked to the same same IP address.

She submitted an 89-page document to the Met Police detailing the harassment she suffered at the hands of Dillon.

She said: “I have spent most of my adult life fighting for women’s rights, and doing so in the public eye has come at a personal cost.

“I became the target of exactly the behavior I was speaking out against.

“Dillon became an army of men wanting to harm me, threatening to rape me, to strangle me.”

The ordeal hasn’t stopped her dating partner Nifesh Patel, with whom she is engaged and expecting a child.

Unusually, Dillon continued his brutal attacks even after he was arrested, with the actress noting that victims are at greatest risk when their abusers are finally “backed into a corner.”

Ms Thorpe only discovered her stalker’s identity in February 2022 when he first appeared in court.

Dillon, who suffered from mental health problems, also suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Sentencing him last week, Judge Rose Dean said she was “absolutely certain” he targeted Ms Thorpe because of her fame as well as her “determinism to expose abusive and misogynistic behaviour”.

Dillon once posed as a sexual assault victim called Helena and asked the Blackpool TV presenter (pictured) to meet for advice before revealing himself as her stalker.

Despite being advised by the new Talk TV breakfast host to ignore the threatening messages, he said it was “useless advice” and instead kept a log and took screenshots of various accounts, all of which were linked to Dillon’s IP address.

The actress played social worker Nicola Rubinstein in Coronation Street between 2017 and 2019. Pictured: She announced her engagement to Patel in January.

Although grateful that “justice was served” in this case, the actress called for offenders like Dillon to receive additional mental health care, as well as a prison sentence and a restraining order.

Ms Thorpe is also working with shadow attorney-general Emily Thornberry to help increase the number of criminals prosecuted for stalking.

The TV presenter previously shared her experience as a guest on ITV This Morning.

She said: “I had an online stalker for three years and luckily the police were able to identify him after a year of investigation.

“But because this person was not verified online, it took them a very long time to find him, and obviously during that time I felt very, very unsafe.

“If platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter had a verification system, it would be much easier for the police to determine who the person is.”