Matthew Hardy: Cheshire stalker harassed women online for 10 years

Matthew Hardy posed as his victims online, a court heard

A stalker harassed women online for 10 years by faking social media accounts to pose as his victims, a court heard.

Matthew Hardy, 30, admitted harassing women who had no idea who he was or why he was targeting them.

Judge Steven Everett, Recorder of Chester, said social media firms "do not seem to care very much their users are able to safely use their accounts".

Hardy, who is from Northwich, is due to be sentenced in December at Chester Crown Court.

Judge Everett said: "There's been a lot of reporting about the death of Sarah Everard and women not feeling safe on the streets, but I wonder if it's been forgotten that one can not feel safe because of behaviour within social media?

"I wonder what the companies have done in that regard?" he asked.

'Depression and anxiety'

The court had heard how Hardy set up fake social media profiles about the women he targeted. He then stole images from their real accounts and spread lies about them.

One victim, Sabrina Cowley, 42, said in a statement read in court: "I am suffering from depression and anxiety. I have not been able to sleep for seven years.

"I'm frightened of going to Northwich by myself in case I bump into him. I couldn't bond with my daughter because I was on a high state of alert."

Hardy had set up fake Facebook, Twitter and Instagram profiles and contacted her friends and family pretending to be her.

He implied to them that she had been having a relationship with a 78-year-old man who had been a very close friend since she was a child.

In other cases, Hardy contacted victims' friends and implied his victims had been having relationships with their husbands.

He sent images to people of one victim in their underwear and in other cases, while masquerading as his victims, he implied they would offer sexual favours or would send intimate pictures of themselves.

Cheshire Police caught up with Hardy after a victim recorded his voice on a phone call.

They also linked some of his fake social media accounts with his home WiFi network.