I was petrified when my driving instructor turned into a stalker… but I’m GLAD he’s not in prison
A STUDENT was left “petrified” when her creepy driving instructor began stalking her after she started taking lessons at the age of just 17.
Graham Mansie, 52, created a bizarre TikTok account dedicated to Maisie Relph and followed her with a fake Instagram identity when she moved to uni.
Earlier this month, Mansie, who lives in Beckenham, London, was handed a suspended sentence by a court.
And in spite of her ordeal, Maisie – now 19 – says she’s glad the predator wasn’t jailed.
Bromley Magistrates’ Court heard Mansie became obsessed with her after she turned 18, when he asked her out for drinks and set up a TikTok account called “For Maisie”.
Alongside the name, he posted an emoji of a red heart and added the description “my favourite” to the biography.
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On another occasion, he gave one of her friends a gift bag for Maisie containing £65 in restaurant vouchers. The hamper also featured a bone with her dog’s name on it.
When Maisie grew increasingly frightened, cancelling her lessons and blocking him on all social media channels, she spotted his car in her road.
And even when she moved across the country to the University of York, he created a fake Instagram account for an 18-year-old boy called Ben Williams so he could follow her.
He also joined a WhatsApp group for her halls of residence.
Terrifyingly, he visited the city himself, although did not go into Maisie’s uni accommodation.
When he was arrested, he admitted he’d used the dark web and shelled out hundreds of pounds to hackers so he could access her social media accounts.
Mansie was sentenced to just eight weeks in prison, suspended for a year, and ordered to attend the Stalking Threat Assessment Centre for treatment.
He has also been banned from contacting Maisie for the rest of her life – although the court heard he has already breached his bail conditions twice by contacting her on Instagram and WhatsApp.
Maisie, a psychology in education student from Bromley, south-east London, said: “It was a nightmare I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
“I want to raise awareness, because I’d have stopped my lessons much sooner if I’d read a story like this.
“In my lessons he used to say things like, ‘Oh, I’ll add that to the file’, and I always thought it was a joke, but now I wonder if he did have a file on me.
TEEN’S TERROR
“The police still haven’t told me everything they found on his computer.
“It’s really shocking and I’m still terrified, but I think he needs help, not to be locked away.
“I’m really pleased he’s getting help with the therapy sessions, and the life-long restraining order gives me peace of mind.”
She said she ended up having 32 lessons with her stalker, which began in July 2020.
When she began, she was in sixth form and Mansie was 33 years older.
After taking a break during a lockdown, she returned to find Mansie’s behaviour had changed. He began calling her his “favourite” and invited her out for drinks.
Maisie said: “At first he was totally normal – none of my friends had any issues with him. I thought he was very reliable.
It was a nightmare I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy… I was absolutely petrified
“When we restarted lessons I had a gut feeling that something was wrong. He started saying, ‘Oh, you’re my favourite, you’re my favourite.’
‘I thought, ‘This really doesn’t seem right’, but it was so hard to get a test and an instructor I thought I’d see it out. I just really didn’t think it would get worse.”
When she learned of the TikTok account, she felt “really uncomfortable”, and in July 2021, she received a friend request from an unknown account on Instagram.
Mansie later told her he’d created it to remind her of how many days there were until he’d see her again.
The teen was then terrified to learn Mansie had joined her student block’s WhatsApp group.
Denise Clewes, prosecuting, told the court he had posed as a student.
“He befriended all her hall mates,” she said.
DARK WEB HACKS
“He used the dark web to ask people to hack into her private messages to see what she was doing. He lost hundreds of pounds trying to do this.
“On October 31 2021 he travelled to York by train. He walked outside her halls of residence, but did not go inside.”
Maisie’s furious father called the defendant, blasting him as a “pervert” – but Mansie replied: “I love her. She’s 18.”
He was arrested days later, but Maisie said the incident left her “absolutely petrified”.
“It was really scary. I slept in my flatmates’ rooms I was so scared,” she said.
“They walked with me everywhere so I wasn’t ever alone. I’m so lucky they were so supportive and caring.”
Despite his arrest, Mansie later messaged his victim on WhatsApp to threaten her. Before going missing for two days, he said: “You’ve just killed me.”
The sick text left Maisie in tears.
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“I was terrified when he went missing, I thought he was looking for me and I didn’t feel safe,” she said.
“He’s not a bad person, but he’s absolutely obsessed, and he needs help not punishment.”
