Teen hotel worker sent hoax bomb by Facebook stalker
A hotel worker has told how a Facebook stalker almost "ruined" her life - even sending a hoax bomb to her workplace.
Chloe Edgley, who was 17 at the time, had been the victim of a stalker, found to be John Michael Conner, 46, from Eastbourne, Sussex, who randomly selected her as a target on Facebook.
The stalking campaign saw him sending number of strange items to her workplace, including a puzzle and a watch, and culminated in him sending a bottle of perfume that looked like a bomb to the four-star Queens Hotel in Leeds city centre.
In an interview with the Yorkshire Evening Post, she told how it almost tore her life apart.
In October 2011, the police called her at home in Garforth. Chloe explained: "They said 'Something has happened, we don't want to worry you but you need to leave your house and come down to work – now. You're not safe'."
When she arrived, Chloe saw that the army bomb disposal unit had cordoned off the front of the hotel.
She continued: "I just started screaming and crying – I didn't know what the hell was going on. I knew something had come for me, I just didn't know what.
Police told her: "We think someone has sent you a bomb."
According to The Times, an investigation revealed that the package was actually a bottle of perfume that had been wrapped in gaffer tape and attached with battery wires to make it look like an explosive.
Chloe had been receiving late-night phone calls, and other packages, but the hoax bomb was the most threatening.
It was sent to the hotel along with a letter claiming what Chloe's family would be entitled to in the event of her death.
Chloe was signed off work for six weeks and said she was "stressed and paranoid".
She added: "Everyone was a suspect. People commented on how much I changed, how different I was. I was so paranoid I wouldn't speak to anyone, I wouldn't go out. I'd been bubbly, chatty, friendly. Then I wouldn't even speak to my mum."
Police managed to catch Conner when Chloe's boyfriend reported a suspicious comment posted by him on her Facebook page.
On Chloe's 18th birthday, Conner pleaded guilty to harassment and making a hoax bomb, and in April 2012 he was sentenced to 36 weeks in prison.
According to the Daily Mail, Chloe, now 19, said: "This complete stranger ruined my life. He made my life hell. Even now I can't sleep in my own bed - I have to sleep downstairs."
West Yorkshire Police Detective Chief Insp Sue Jenkinson told the Daily Mail: "We want everyone affected by stalking to know that there is help available and that they are not alone. Stalking is illegal and no one should endure it.'
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