WOMAN, 55, JAILED FOR ‘UNRELENTING’ CAMPAIGN OF ONLINE STALKING
A social media marketer who launched an “unrelenting” campaign of online stalking against a motivational speaker and a businesswoman has been jailed for 28 months.Samantha Wall, 55, bombarded “totally innocent” Brad Burton and Naomi Timperley with abusive messages which were designed to ruin their reputations, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
Nicholas Flanagan, prosecuting, said self-employed Mr Burton was briefly introduced to Wall in January 2019 during an event he hosted at Aston Villa FC’s Villa Park stadium which about 200 people attended.
Months later and through 2020 he was told by colleagues that posts intending to damage his reputation were coming from social media accounts in the name of a Sam Wall, the court heard.
Mr Burton blocked her from all his social media sites, the prosecutor said, but Wall was undeterred and began to falsely claim that he and others were abusing her.
He then turned to two legal companies who wrote to Wall to advise her to stop posting about Mr Burton, which she responded to by posting one of the letters on social media.
The attacks then intensified.
The defendant claimed that Mr Burton had poisoned her cat, had continually called her and made claims that he was having affairs.
This was particularly distressing as Mr Burton is happily married.
In June 2022, Wall posted on Twitter that Mr Burton had tried to kill her, and went on to falsely claim he was being investigated by the police for stalking and harassing her.
The prosecutor said Wall maintained she was the victim when she was arrested in September 2022.
A month later, after she was bailed, she restarted her attacks on multiple social media platforms and claimed Mr Burton was in prison and “had a psychopathic twin brother who was covering for him”.
Entrepreneur Naomi Timperley also reported being harassed by the defendant, although they had never met.
Wall posted fake messages which claimed Ms Timperley had targeted her and warned: “Time to take criminal action with you all.
You won’t like it.” Wall, of Cheadle, Stockport, pleaded guilty at earlier hearings to two counts of stalking and one count of improper use of a public electronic communications network between January 2019 and April 2023.
In his victim personal statement read to the court, Mr Burton said: “Traumatic.
That single word captures the devastating impact of Sam Wall’s actions on my life and my family.
For four-plus years, her relentless campaign of lies, harassment and character assassination has dominated every corner of our existence, mentally, emotionally, financially, and digitally.
I spent decades building a career from nothing, establishing a nationwide business network in the UK, writing books and inspiring thousands.
But Sam’s fabricated accusations calling me a convicted violent offender, fraud, stalker, have tarnished my name, eroded trust and devastated my family’s sense of security.
Her intentional actions have damaged my career and invaded every aspect of my personal life.
She has shown zero remorse or any acceptance of the damage she’s inflicted, instead continuing to sow seeds for further harm by presenting herself as the aggrieved party.
Ms Timperley said: “For over two-and-a-half years I was hunted through hashtags, chased through timelines, cornered in comment sections.
My name dragged through the dirt of digital spaces that once held community but became cages of cruelty.” Emma Clarke, defending, said Wall had been diagnosed with chronic delusional mental illness, had been the target of online abuse since publicity of the case and was “crying out for support, guidance and medical intervention”.
Sentencing, Judge Neil Usher told Wall she was responsible for an “unrelenting barrage of abuse designed to maximise fear and distress”.
He said: “This was a deliberate and calculated campaign of online stalking of the most egregious kind.” Following sentencing, investigating officer Pc Wayne Hasselby, of Greater Manchester Police, said: “These types of cases are extremely traumatic for victims to go through.
Online stalking can leave victims and survivors fearful of every move they make as they never know what these individuals are capable of, or whether they know their physical whereabouts.
It is hard to escape online harassment as so much of our lives are now online.
This particular campaign of harassment took a toll on her victims’ mental health and day-to-day life.
I’m glad this has finally been put to an end, and they can now find some closure and move on with their lives.
Samantha Wall must now pay the price for her actions.
I encourage those who think they are being harassed or stalked, whether that be online or physically, to get in touch with us.
We’re committed to putting a stop to these types of crimes and to bring charges against those who commit these awful offences.
