Sword and Scale - Episode 104

Episode Date: November 27, 2017

Love is often expressed with gifts such as flowers and chocolates, but those same gifts can be used to manipulate, control and threaten in the hands of a stalker.That is a lesson that Alice Ruggles learned the hard way from her obsessed ex-boyfriend Trimaan Dhillon who couldn't handle her rejection.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sort and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised Hey Absolutely spoken. You didn't want to speak Well, you didn't want to call me again. So that's why I decided to come down to give you a feminine chocolate on my way back. If you want to take it, if you want to burn it, you can burn it.

You can burn it up to you. I just wanted to do something just to say I'm sorry and I'm sure that I'm really I'm sorry. And yeah, that's the least I could have done. But I know you're not going to come out in front of me and speak to me. So that's why I left it there. If you don't want to speak to me, it'll be good why I left it there. Here, I want to speak to me. It'll be good. It's all, it's nothing like it.

Anyway, I'm sorry for waking you up. Hope you have a good night's sleep. Bye. Hello, I'm your host, Mike Boudet. Welcome to Season 4, Episode 104 of Sword and Scale. A show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. For centuries, humans have exchanged flowers to communicate nonverbal messages. The type, the color, or even the arrangement of flowers can express love, friendship, admiration, or sorrow. Red roses express romance. Cardinius symbolize forbidden love, and Tulips convey happiness.

But these symbols of Romance love and happiness can also be used to manipulate, to control, and to instill fear. Flowers, chocolates, poems, letters, almost anything can be twisted into a tool of abuse when it's in the hands of 2015, 23-year-old Alice Ruggles was working in Newcastle, England for the broadcasting company Sky. She was originally from Lestershire, England, and had graduated from Northumbria University in Newcastle with a degree in product design. She was a well-respected employee at Sky.

So much so that the title of Office Coordinator had been created specifically for her. In October of 2015, Alice took time off from work to head to Sri Lanka on vacation with a friend of hers, excited to spend some time relaxing and exploring the island nation. While in Sri Lanka, Alice's friend posted a photo of Alice on Facebook. Shortly after, a mutual friend whom Alice had never met left an enduring comment on that photo. The man's name was Trimman Dillon. Trimman Dillon, who went by Harry, was raised in India. He was an only child born to wealthy, loving, and devout Sikh parents. Growing up, Harry moved around

frequently because his father served in the army as a parachute regiment major. Harry reportedly attended Catholic schools and military academies before deciding to pursue a degree in strategy management. The final two years of his degree gave him the option to attend Queen Margaret University in Muscleburg, Scotland, just outside Edinburgh. No longer under the thumb of his religious parents, Harry started letting loose at Queen Margaret University. Photographs from his time reportedly show Harry partying and hanging out with scantily clad women. Not exactly activities his devout Sikh parents would have condoned. Around this time, the British Army came to Queen Margaret University for recruitment.

Harry decided to follow in his father's footsteps and join the armed forces. He would eventually go on to reach the rank of Lance Corporal, as well as serve as a signaler with the Royal Highland Fusillers of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, also known as the two Scots. Harry's first tour of duty in the army brought him to Afghanistan, where he served in a non-combat role. In October of 2015, Harry Dillon first made contact with a woman named Alice Ruggles from his base in Afghanistan. After seeing a vacation photo of Alice posted by a mutual friend on Facebook, he commented,

she is the most naturally beautiful woman I've ever seen. Alice, flattered by Harry's comment, began messaging him. The two slowly got to know each other over the internet, exchanging messages and video chatting on a daily basis. Even though Harry was posted thousands of miles away, Alice would often come home from work to discover that Harry had sent her flowers. In exchange, she would surprise him with care packages

sent to his base in Afghanistan. In January 2016, Harry returned to the United Kingdom, where he was living at the Glencourse Military Barracks just south of Edinburgh. After Harry and Alice met in person for the first time, their relationship intensified. Edinburgh was about a two and a half hour drive from Alice's apartment in Gateshead, but compared to Afghanistan, the distance was not a problem. As their relationship progressed, however, there were other problems. Alice slowly became aware that in person Harry was not the same man she'd fallen for online.

she'd fallen for online. Over the internet, Harry seemed sweet, caring, and thoughtful. And person, he was possessive, controlling, and abusive. He was very intense at the beginning of the relationship. He was very controlling her valice. He would try and accentuate issues with her friends and an attempt to isolate her from them. He would try and control what she was wearing, what she looked like. It would be checking her messages.

And if they were out in company with other people, he would be commanding of her attention. He viewed Alice's property. Throughout their relationship, Harry sought to control every aspect of Alice's life, from the way she dressed to the way she spent her time. He would often criticize her for not looking attractive enough. Other times, he would berate her for looking too attractive. He became increasingly jealous, accusing her of trying to attract the attention of other men. He wanted to know where she was at all times and who she was with.

He would do things for no other reason than to exert control. Once, while Alice was taking a shower, Harry forced her to get out of the shower and stand in the kitchen while he used the bathroom. Then when he was done, he let her go back into the bathroom to finish showering. Alice told a friend named Genevieve that Harry, quote, had a problem with the way she lived her life, end quote. In Genevieve's words, he didn't like her drinking, putting on makeup or nice clothes.

He assumed she was always trying to impress someone else. He made comments about the size of her nose and the hair on her forearms. He made herself conscious and not the person she was. Alice told Genevieve that Harry was constantly trying to make her jealous of other women by doing things such as dramatically pulling a long blonde hair from his uniform in front of her, making it clear to Alice that the hair was much lighter than her own. Once on Alice's birthday, Harry tried to make her jealous by telling her that Victoria's secret models would be visiting his base that day.

To be clear, this sort of behavior is abuse, and this was not Harry's first time abusing a woman with whom he was in a relationship. Harry began his first long-term relationship during the fall of 2012 with an 18-year-old Bulgarian student named Aniko. Aniko's mother called Harry evil and said that her daughter changed while she was with him. Like he would later do to Alice, Harry attempted to control Eniko's life, and within months he had proposed to her. Although they did not get married, the relationship stretched on for over two years, at which point Eniko had had enough. Eniko ended the relationship, but Harry did not want her to move on.

He began stalking her. When she started dating someone else, Harry would show up out of nowhere. On one such date, Harry reportedly approached the couple, spat at Aniko and called her a bitch. During another encounter, Harry allegedly threatened to throw acid on Aniko. His abusive behavior resulted in a restraining order. Unfortunately, Alice Ruggles had no way to know about Harry's history of abuse. However, she was brave enough to stand up for herself. During the summer of 2016, after Alice found out that Harry was cheating on her,

she broke off the relationship. But Harry would not go away, and he began to terrorize her. He attempted to blackmail her using her intimate photos, hacking into her social media accounts, and repeatedly sent her letters and poems. And one such letter, Harry wrote, quote, quote, I'm going to make you my wife, and you are going to have to deal with me for the rest of your life." In a poem he sent, Harry included the line,

I'm not a psychopath, as you say, and rhymes such as, I can't accept it ended. All that's broken can be mended. According to Claire Harris, one of Alice's co-workers at Sky, the way he was texting her was becoming obsessive. He was refusing to accept Alice finishing with him. At a barbecue hosted by Claire, Alice reportedly read some messages she was receiving from Harry out loud. According to Claire, one message read something along the lines of, what do you want me to do? I would cut off my arms to be with you. Soon after receiving that message, Alice told Claire, oh my God, he's now going to write me a letter in blood.

Claire joked to Alice that she hoped he got things in the right order, given that it's awfully hard to write a letter in your own blood if you've already cut your arms off. Alice found the joke, hilarious. After the breakup, Harry sent a Facebook message to Alice's mother, who characterized his message as immature and rambling. He began the message with the greeting, hello mum, which Alice's mother found bizarre

and creepy. In the message Harry wrote, I beg you to help me. Take me as your son and maybe you can feel my pain and loathing." He also told Alice's mom that the five-foot-two-inch Alice had attacked him during their relationship. Harry would call Alice constantly, leaving lengthy voicemails. Alice's flatmate Maxine McGill, who heard one of these voicemails, said he was explaining that he did not want to kill her, and he was calling just to prove to her that he wanted to be there for her.

But I remember him using the words or phrase, kill you six or seven times in that message. The abuse was taking a toll on Alice. According to Maxine, Alice became an introvert, visibly shaking with anxiety. She became skinny. She lost so much weight. She was pale and nowhere near as outgoing as she used to be. On Saturday September 24th Harry left Alice the following voicemail begging her not to leave him months after she already had. Despite the continued harassment, Alice was slowly bouncing back from her toxic relationship

with Harry. During the fall of 2016, Alice began to kindle a new potential relationship with a British army officer named Mike. She met Mike while on a trip to visit her sister in Germany, and the two connected instantly. Alice's flatmate, Maxine McGill, told media outlets, Mike made Alice very happy. She told me that. I knew she was visiting her sister in Germany for a couple days, and she came back a different person to the one who left. She left a shadow of her former self, and when she came back, I started to see the real

Alice again, because she had met Mike. She had a great couple of days with her sister and Mike. It was a strong bond between two people. They got on like a house on fire and she said the banter between them was unreal. That's how she put it. She said she felt she could just talk to him about things. According to Alice's mother, Alice was really happy with Mike. As she put it, they are so well matched. She has exactly the same quirky sense of humor. Harry soon found out about Mike, likely because he was monitoring Alice's email and social media accounts.

After finding out about this new man in Alice's life, Harry contacted a friend from college who worked as a psychologist. The two went for a walk in the park, and Harry showed the friend a picture of Mike. According to her, Harry was obsessing over whether or not Mike was more attractive than he was. He repeatedly said, be honest, tell me if he is better than me. I do not want her to be with someone better than me, and she responded by telling him to move on from this obsession. But he did not move on. In Harry's twisted mind, if Alice would not be with him, then it was his job to make

sure she couldn't be with anyone else. He attempted to end the relationship by any means possible. On September 22nd, Harry allegedly messaged Mike on Facebook saying, Hi, Mike, I know nothing about you. I realize Alice is playing both of us, man. She's saying that she is still in love with me while trying to chat you up. I know she will have said 101 things about me, leading two guys on is pretty messed up. Can you please tell me where you guys stand? I feel pretty gutted that she's saying she loves me, but is seeing you too. Please take this in a positive way.

I just wanted to be honest with you. Allegedly, Harry also forged messages between himself and Alice on the messaging app WhatsApp, which appeared to show Alice telling him, I love you. He attempted to use this fabricated conversation to convince Mike that Alice was still in love with him. But this pathetic attempt to break up the relationship would not prove successful. According to Maxine, this incident affected Alice because she really liked Mike, and she

was worried she would not see him again. That consumed her for a while, but he got back in touch with her because he felt as strongly as Alice did, and she was back to her giddy happy self. If anything, it seemed as though Harry was only bringing Alice and Mike closer to each other, but he refused to give up. On Friday, September 30th, Harry left Alice another voicemail. That night Harry showed up at Alice's apartment knocking on doors and windows and leaving behind flowers and chocolates. He then left her yet another voicemail. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for waking you up. Hope you're having a good night's sleep. But... Alice didn't want to talk to Harry on the phone, so he showed up at her apartment in person,

to show that he was sorry for refusing to leave her alone. He woke her up in the middle of the night by knocking on her door and window. In a separate voicemail, Harry tells Alice, earlier you said guys like me end up killing people. That's why I came with open hands to put flowers and chocolates there and left them there. Killing you is something I've never ever thought about. Someone is really poisoning your head.

I've never hurt you. I don't want to kill you. I'm not intending to kill you. I don't want to kill you. I'm not intending to kill you. I don't want to kill you. Okay? Have a good night. Alice's friends had been encouraging her to contact the police regarding Harry's behavior, and the incident with the flowers and chocolates finally convinced her to do so. Alice styled 101, the non-emergency police line in the United Kingdom, at 12.33 a.m. on

the morning of October 1, 2016. Just hours after Harry had left, flowers, and chocolates on her doorstep. Hi there, and I just need a bit of advice really, more than anything. bit of advice really, more than anything. So I split up with my boyfriend about three months ago since then. I know that he's had him to my Facebook and also my phone. He's been sending me a lot of messages even though I've asked him not to contact me. Basically just messaging my friends and things and then tonight he's well I had a knock at my door and well he's telling me a message saying I've been in regard since five I had a knock at my door and then when I went and looked I've got like a little you know the thing that you can look through

and there was no one there and then it happened again in two or three times and he's come out on the back knocked on my gym window, I look back on my ground floor flat, and he's been outside and he's like left and some flowers and chocolates on there, like outside window, so he walked off, he's not done anything, but I'm just concerned, I've been putting off, like my friends have been telling me to call the police, I've been putting off, but I've just filled it like,

shaken up tonight, so. What is it? It a country, a harassment, a crime. If you're any contact from them, there's a number of things you can do. You could also listen to them take up an infolction, keep them away from here. You put it directly at least now and we can issue them the pinhole which means we are against any other context against any of the arrests. Okay. To translate this for our non-British audience, the operator told Alice that there are a couple of different options if she doesn't want him to contact her.

She could go to a solicitor and take out an injunction which is essentially the equivalent of filing a restraining order or police could issue him a pin notice or police information notice which serves as a warning but does not actually constitute a formal legal action. Shockingly, the operator leaves the decision up to Alice. So what would you prefer? Can I try that option please? Of course you can. I'll turn it in. Joining please. Pardon? Joining. Oh sorry and it's Alice. And just in the name Alice? It's Ruggles and that's Re called? Harry Dylan. He's actually a name of Trinon, which is T.R.I. Right, sorry, I forgot. What's the good thing? Harry Dylan, because I'm on the last, so

what's his name? What is his name? Harry Dylan, but he's got a seat name, which is Trinon. Right, so what's the industry called, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what and then Harry lives in Edinburgh, which means he had to drive roughly 240 miles round trip to get to Alice's apartment in Gateshead, England. She's constantly contacting you by full up text.

Well, I've brought two numbers. We've got two phones, I've brought both numbers. So, he's been sending me Gmail messages. I haven't brought him off to email because I don't want him to start emailing my work email. But I'm prepared. Then, there he's also made a fake Snapchat account to show him contact me on.

He had hacked into her Facebook account, hacked into her phone, messaged her from two different phone numbers, contacted her through a fake Facebook account, hacked into her phone, messaged her from two different phone numbers, contacted her through a fake Snapchat account, messaged her on Gmail, and attempted to visit her home. In response, the police were going to serve Harry with a pin notice, something that would do little beyond notifying him that Alice had contacted the police. She knows it doesn't matter. Yeah.

Right. I don't need a cut here. I'm going to please take her and serve her with a fit and order. Okay. Well, what I'm going to do, I'm going to sit me in a apartment to go and say, yeah. Yeah. In the morning. Yeah.

Our soldiers were going to tell me a pilot for him, pointing through him, we'll get the details. Thank you. Fluxley, we've got no point, we'll get him to the left for tomorrow. Oh, that's okay. So it looks like it's going to be sunny in there. Yeah, that's okay, yeah. Right. We come and see you on some de-afternoor about one o'clock. And get the details from me and get a statement from you. Yeah, that's good. Talk to you. If anything happens in the meantime, just give me a call back. Okay, we'll see.

The police were going to see her to take a statement in the morning, but there weren't any appointments available. So they pushed it off until the following afternoon. Let me remind you, this is not a six month dental checkup. This is a report of stalking. Alice called the police because she was fearing for her personal safety. According to Alice's flatmate Maxine McGill, Alice felt pomed off by the police when she called the report Harry's behavior. Alice told her that the call felt like a waste of time. Unsurprisingly, Harry was not deterred by the pin notice. He sent Alice another package. This one containing photographs, no books, and a letter.

This one containing photographs, notebooks, and a letter. On October 7th at 5.54pm, Alice called the police to report this violation of the pin notice. Rather than taking this report seriously, however, the operator plays down the severity of the violation. Good afternoon, sorry, good evening, Northumbia. A few steps you can help in order. Hi there. Yeah, I've been in touch with the police. Somebody's been issued a pen so they can't contact me, however, I've had a letter

of them. Right, okay. So you reported the picture of a pen. Yeah. Who is it from? Who's the last one, who's the Harry Dylan? The report made the picture of a pen. Yeah. Yeah. And who is it from? Who's the last one from? Harry Dylan.

So that's where the pen is against this? Yeah. Okay, well, there's our just text from TVF here. You know, telephone number, I've got here 077408-56291. Yeah, that's right, yeah. And you can't say your name. Yes, it's Alice Ruggles. It's the ELICE.

Yeah, IE W G L E S. And you're a data bus? 24, 37, 91. And what's your address? 136, Rolling Road. And that's N E 8 4 Q T. Do you have a pin against who? I forget Harry Gilland.

Harry Gilland. Is it Dylan Di Di L, or N or D H, or D H I L, L O N? Dylan is the other birth of Toro's age. Yeah, I state of birth is the 6th of December 1990. So, the 5th of December 1990. So, today I received a letter from him. Yeah. What was the content of the letter?

The pictures of me and him, because he's my ex-wife and he's like a notebook that I sent him when we were together in a letter. The content pictures of him, notebooks. Yeah, and the letter. The operator goes on to ask Alice whether or not the content of the letter was threatening and whether or not it was harassment. The letter's contents are significant,

but the fact that this letter was sent in the first place after a police notice was issued should be interpreted by law enforcement as a threat to Alice's personal safety, regardless of the letter's content. No matter what the letter said, it was harassment. Okay, and was the newspaper like, and was it yesterday, was it like threatening, or was it harassing? No, not threatening.

It's just saying, you know, they're called the police on M, and you can't have anything confiscated, and all he has to himself is a pen and paper, an iPod, and explain and why he came down last Friday. And then it says that the bottom of the book won't contact you know this will be a last I hear from them but he said that a lot of time you never does seem to stop. So you said that before and you just continue to contact you? Yes.

This next exchange is absolutely infuriating. So you want to call back to discuss this? Yeah, what usually what happened for that? Okay, I'll let them know you want to see if I want to contact you back. Yes, they're discussed, what can be done? Okay, well it's the police officer that's been dealing with my case. I can't guarantee who it'll be. I'll let them know you've got your turn not necessarily.

So, this one is no official. Is the best time for you back? I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You want to contact you? Yeah, please. Okay. All right, thank you. Thanks for it. Thanks, please. Imagine calling your local police station, saying, I think I'm in danger, and the operator responding, so do you want to call back later to discuss this?

Alice Ruggles felt threatened enough to call police on Harry Dylan multiple times. Even after he violated a pin notice by contacting her, they failed to act in any meaningful way. After talking to the police, Alice was And once he has fucking stabbed me, end quote. After suffering months of harassment and stalking, 24-year-old Alice Ruggles had finally made the decision to call police. She reported the abusive behavior of her ex-boyfriend Harry Dillon on October 1st, after he had shown up at her apartment uninvited, knocking on doors and windows, and leaving behind flowers and chocolates.

The police failing to grasp the full weight of the situation issued Harry a pin notice, but he proceeded to violate almost immediately by sending Alice another package. When Alice called the police again on October 7, they once again put off taking serious legal action. Five days later, on October 12, Harry once again decided to make the long drive from his barracks in Edinburgh to Alice's apartment in Gateshead. It was only Wednesday, but Alice was already looking forward to the weekend. Mike, a neuromantic interest who lived in Germany, had booked a flight for the following day to come visit Alice in England.

They were planning to spend the weekend together, and they were both looking forward to having that time to get to know each other. How'd you heard much about Mike from Alice? Alice talked about Mike quite a lot, and she was so excited that he was coming to spend the weekend with her. She was talking about where she was going to go and what she was going to wear, and she talked a lot about what unri�ly and I sculled. After arriving home from work that day, Alice tried on ballgowns in her bedroom and texted

Mike about their weekend plans. Mike wondered whether or not he should rent a car, asked Alice if they were going to go out drinking. Kidding, Alice replied, is anything in life really non-alcohol-related? At 604pm, Mike replied, taxi it is. Caught up in her conversation with Mike, Alice might not have heard someone climbing into her apartment through the open window. Mike never received a response. At around 6.30pm, Alice's roommate Maxine McGill arrived home. Surprise to find the front door locked and apparently having forgotten her keys, she shouted

up to Alice, asking to be let in. Receiving no response, Maxine scaled the wall to get into their backyard. Thankfully that someone had left the window open. She climbed into the apartment. Within a few minutes, Maxine found Alice lying on the bathroom floor, soaked in her own blood. Panicking, she called 999. Please, I've just just come back to my flat and the door is locked so I can also check

the window and my flatmates covered in blood in the bathroom. Is she breathing? I don't know, I'm trying to try to look outside. Okay, try to stay calm. Try to stay calm. What's your address? It's f***ing rolling roads. She's covered in blood, did you see? What's your address? It's f***ing rolling wood! You should go up and blow to D.C. Yes.

OK, bear with us two seconds. Alice! Alice! Alice! Oh my God, she's dead! She's dead! Which town are you in? This dude's house. He said, what's his name?

Maxine? Maxine. Here's Maxine. Not yet. What's his name? Maxine's Maxine. The girl? I'm seeing the girl.

M-C-G-I-W-L. Okay. Maxine tells the operator that she came in through the window and that she found Alice and fake material. MCG-I-WL? Okay. Maxine tells the operator that she came in through the window and that she found Alice's body covered in blood and that Alice's skin was blue. And yet the door was open. No, it wasn't open. There's not enough salt in my window.

The resultant in the back door and she blighted covered in blood. She's what she blurt. She said, yeah, I'll go through the window. Yes. and she's like covered in blood, she's what she's worth. She's so you have to go through the window. Yes. Back door's open. She's known about door wasn't open, no I'm present, Miss Watson. All right, I've missed you. You're not going to have to clean up about an exit.

Yes, yes, yes. Please. Close me. Close in the bathroom. Close it in the bathroom. We should don't know, after I know. Woohoo! Can you have a look and fix this breathing for the ambulance? I'm not so... We should not know! I'm so not!

Can you have a look and fix this breathing for the ambulance? No! She's not! She's not breathing! No, she looks...no! You guys put the load from and since we're here, I don't know a leg-wigs broken-up system. She had that again, sorry. A leg-wigs broken-up system, I don't know! a legwicks broken, I've heard again, sorry. A legwicks broken, I've heard something that I don't know. Alice's leg looks broken, and there's so much blood

that Maxine can't tell where it came from. One of my colleagues on the phone with the ambulance. So, is she in the bathroom? She's in the bathroom. She's in the bathroom, Alice. Alice. Alice, how much blood is there? bathroom. She's in the bathroom. I have a... I have a... I have a... I have a... I have a... I'm a flooded bed. There's home, you're doing really well. And the things have been to the door in the bathroom.

Yes, and everything's at work for me, so she's not breathing. She's actually breathing. No! Give us two seconds. Okay. Does anybody see anybody down the boat yet? Listen, sweetheart. I'm telling my colleague to get the ambulance to give you a ring because she's glued to sitting. Please, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm

sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you. No, I need a boat trap with you. Oh my God. What's your call? She's called Anna. Anna, I don't want to talk to you. I'm going to talk to you. I'm going to talk to you. I'm going to talk to you.

I'm going to talk to you. I'm going to talk to you. I'm going to talk to you. I'm going to talk to you. don't want to talk to you. I'm really the white doctor. Right, is there any of that with you? No, no, it just kept going to the front. Please, what kind of shit is that?

Is that a shit, blah? Just hang off the toilet. It's the ambulance traveling. Kathy, please, please, I need something here right now. I know what you do. We'll get into you soon as we can. Oh! Oh! Oh!

Okay, just try and stay calm. Where are you? She says she's there. She says she's there. She says she's there. I can't find her. I can't find her. Try and calm down. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. is racing, searching for some sort of explanation. Her thoughts turn to Harry, and Maxine tells the operator, her ex is an absolute psychopath. I know, I will, I will, Sally. She's only 23, I mean, you're just coming out of her right, she's an absolute psychopath. She's got a gun, sorry. She put an act complete and a bit of an X, she's 4101, at the weekend, you'd report these

sighting contactances, we're going to do nothing now. This is at the bottom. Right, how excited contact are at the weekend? No, she's contacted 101 because she put an statement about them two weeks ago and we found two. About two. At an X, my friend, Harry Dellum. Right, so she'd be having problems with her X.

Yeah, so do you think that's what it is? Yeah, I think you're deciding What's a cold What's a cold DX? Hi, honey, Dylan. How are you? Dylan, Dylan Yeah Please give me your consent. He might stay responsible.

Yeah Please give your consent a my favorite Maxine's neighbor having heard the commotion enters the apartment Okay Did you hear that? Listen, listen Ask your neighbor Boy, boy, she had boy since she was yesterday since I think it's a bit different. Boy, she had voices so she asked me to send her to the bathroom. Why?

Are you sure? Why do you think it's him? Because he was threatening me to do my things to her and stuff. Like, oh, sure. My mother blocked me. I can hear the police are coming Yeah, the thing that I've seen I'll wait with you until they're actually with you Okay, I don't know what to do.

Oh, it's okay. What is so bad? I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do there now. Maxine. Yes, it's a police officer here. The police officer's there. No.

Okay. And close your phone down for me, Maxine. Okay. Thank you. Bye. There was nothing Maxine could have done. When emergency services arrived, Alice Ruggles was pronounced dead at the scene. As soon as I saw Alice lying there, who was frozen in fear,

a fear that I've never felt in my life before. I don't want to believe that, so I kept moving down very closely, see if I could hear our breathing, just wanted somebody there to try and help her. They bring a pit, they keep down that nothing was going to bring her back. It's something that I don't ever think I'll be able to erase from my memory. What saddens me the most about it is it shadows my memory of Alice when she was alive and when she was happy. And that beautiful smiley heart, I find it really hard to imagine in my own mind because of what I've seen that night.

On October 10th, two days before Alice's death, Harry Dillon had driven down to Alice's apartment, snuck around the back entrance and taken photographs. On the afternoon of October 12th, one year and one day after he first made contact with Alice from Afghanistan, he returned to her apartment. Harry sat in his white BMW outside the building, waiting for Alice to arrive home from work. While he waited, he messaged a girl he'd never met on the dating app Tinder, trying to arrange a casual hookup. He told the girl he would be available in 20 or 30 minutes. Harry watched as Alice was dropped off by one of her co-workers and waited outside for a little while longer.

Meanwhile, Alice was trying on dresses and texting Mike about the upcoming weekend. Between 6.04 pm, when Mike last texted Alice, and 6.30 pm, when Maxine arrived home, Harry Dillon climbed the wall into Alice's backyard and crawled into the apartment through Alice's open bedroom window. Harry found a six inch knife in Alice's kitchen and chased her to the bathroom, where Alice was desperately trying to lock herself inside. But Harry forced his way into the bathroom, pinned Alice down and slashed her neck with the knife. Harry brought the knife down repeatedly, forcefully enough to sever Alice's voice box and right-corrotted artery, penetrating all the way down to

her spine. Harry struck Alice's neck with the knife at least six times, exposing and severing her windpipe, and creating a complex wound that resulted in high-velocity blood spatter. Alice likely died due to what the pathologist would later refer to as catastrophic bleeding. Harry also sliced up the tip of Alice's nose, including defensive wounds, Alice sustained 24 injuries in total. When Maxine found Alice lying in the bathroom, she was soaked in blood, lying on her back just inside the door with her feet pointing towards the shower. Her skin was blue and she was surrounded by a dark red pool of her own blood. It was crazy. I woke up, I could hear the dog barking and the knock on the door. It was two in the morning, so I went down and the two police at the door saying,

can we come in? And immediately I thought, this is just like it is on films. And they just proceeded like it would on a film or can we come in please, is your wife awake? Can you wake her up please? Would you like to sit down in the kitchen? We've got some bad news. All of that, it's just like you've seen on films on television and this was playing out for real.

And of course, all this time you know it's gonna be something horrible but you don't know specifically what it's going to be and then they said it's Alice. And that was it. That was the moment where we knew. When they heard that their daughter had been murdered, Alice's parents immediately knew who the killer was.

And then they said to us, Alice has been killed. And I think we looked at each other and said, it's Harry. Sue Hills and Clive Ruggles, Alice's parents, proceeded to contact Alice's two brothers, Nick and Patrick. I remember I was lying in bed at a university, so it's up in Sheffield, and my mom and dad would always plan things days and advance when they contacted me. And I sort of, I woke up just for whatever reason. I don't know why about 6am, because I just noticed sort of 6 or 7 up just for whatever reason. I don't know why about 6am, because I just noticed

six or seven missed calls when we're done. That's really weird. It's not like them to call them on once, you know, without messaging me to ask what's all right. And so I went down to the door to let them in. And I think one of my first questions and we're standing at lift was just, who is it? Because I knew something was wrong.

And it was just, I remember they, I knew something was wrong and it was just I remember they and they there's all the classic signs they said oh I'm gonna go I do you have any tea or make you some tea do you want to sit down and it was just those moments were horrible because I knew something horrible had happened but I didn't know what it was gonna be and when they said you know it's Alice he's he's killed her it was just. I can't think of a worse point in my life. So, this is gone. Is that affected most of your lives? It's a bit of a shock to the system about how I interact with people. I've always been very kind of open. I've always been very, very trustworthy. Everyone's my friend. No one.

And suddenly, you realize actually, people I know and I've let into my life and I've I'd say even trusted them to a degree. And suddenly, I know and I've let into my life and I've I'd say even trusted them, you know, to a degree and suddenly I know that I can't and that you kind of he takes you back and really messes you up. It's also quite an effect on my daughter and she was a bit she got really upset and really confused about it and she was asking, you know, why is why someone hurt her? Why was you don't mean why who hurt her and of course I can tell who you know, you don't mean because she had met him or she probably doesn't remember him now. And would anyone hurt me? And you know, it's quite hard to answer because, you know, you'll want to be honest and say, you know, this is what happened, but I don't want to be

honest because she's for. She doesn't need to worry about that. But she is, you know, it's very, very mixed emotions about it all. While Alice's family grappled with the news that Alice, who brought so much joy into their lives, was taken from them at age 24. Police were tracking down the man who took her away. Harry Dillon had taken Alice's phone and fled back to Glen Cors Barracks in Edinburgh,

where he discarded the knife used in the attack. The 25-year-old Lance Corporal was arrested during the early morning hours of Thursday, October 13th. Investigators discovered blood on the steering wheel of his BMW. On Friday, the 14th, Harry Dillon was charged with the murder of Alice Ruggles. At trial, Harry claimed Alice's death was an accident. He said that Alice had attempted to attack him with the knife, and that he had tried to disarm her, and she had fallen onto the knife during the struggle, a story which was clearly constructed to fit the evidence after the fact. Alice's parents

could do nothing but watch as Harry indiscriminately shifted between fact and fiction and court. We're talking about Dylan. You had to sit there for two weeks and you had to listen to him for two days and sat through it. What was that like? That was horrendous because we knew he was lying but of course some of the things that he said resonated with things that really did happen and So we're sort of half of thinking well, I sort of said me believe that but I don't believe that and And the worst thing was he was thinking what are the jewelry thinking? You know, are they is he going to be released? And if he's going to be released is somebody else gonna have the same thing was saying, what are the jewelry thinking? You know, is he going to be released? And if he's going to be released,

is somebody else going to have the same thing happen to them? Is he going to come after other people in the family? Has he forgotten, you know, that he, with all the terrible things he said about both Alice and Emma during that trial? Is he going to come after Emma? Because he obviously felt bad about her. You surprised my husband's manor throughout this.

No, and it reinforced the fact that how guilty he was. Because how could he say he loved Alice and be crying because she wasn't going out with him and then describe how she killed herself without even looking at all concerned about anything. And I mean we looked at him so many times to see, you know, well, we were just looking for some sense of what he'd be normative, what he'd done, or even what he'd witnessed, of what he was saying was true, which we obviously didn't believe, but it's just absolutely nothing at all. All the time he was in court, he was demonstrating what he was like, he was not only reactionist, he was not only had no emotions, but he was actually trying to control things in court, his arrogance was breathtaking.

In front of Alice's family, Harry attacked Alice's character, as well as that of her sister Emma. Alice's brothers were also present at trial, listening to Lie after Lie, searching without success for any sign of remorse hidden behind Harry's cold exterior. What really upset me was when he would start attacking Alice's character and Emma's character because you can see all he wants is to get away with it. He doesn't care about anything else here and he cares about himself. And I think the worst part for me was not when he was trying to get away with it, but when he was saying that, oh Alice was horrible, it was all Alice's fault. And you know, then Alice told, I'm sorry, Emma told Alice.

Yeah. That you know, it was all her fault. And it's just ridiculous. Like, I'm sorry, Emma told Alice, that you know, it was all her fault and it's just ridiculous. Like no one would, none of us would ever say that and it's just, and Alice wasn't a bad person. It was, and those are the lies that really hit hard and it just, and I don't understand how we could say that really.

It's just he was so cold and calculated the whole time, wasn't it? And I mean, there was one point where the prosecution actually said, do you not feel any emotion at all? And then you saw him like trying to force this emotion. And when I think the prosecution pointed out some other fact, he then all the emotion was immediately gone. And you know that he just, he doesn't, it doesn't, it feels like he doesn't feel anything. He just, you know, it's just this cold, calculating, you know, murder, really.

It was when they were going through, and going through all the injuries and all that, and it's horrific stuff, and we're all in pieces, and he's there, and it's just completely unfazed, you know, no, this is what happened. And that was really kind of, that was really dawned, you know, just to see someone do that, and you know they're lying, and you know it's, oh, oh, put on and this is someone they supposedly cared about.

Harry told the court that he was devastated and heartbroken after witnessing Alice's death. But apparently, he was not devastated or heartbroken enough to call for an ambulance. Harry claimed that he was trying to protect Alice from herself, but the prosecution pointed out that Harry did not sustain a single injury, asking him, did you ever consider you had done the worst job ever at protecting somebody from themselves? Harry responded, yes, I have done the worst job, Yes. The prosecution followed up by stating, Alice wanted to live, and she fought for her life that afternoon, and you killed her.

Harry devoid of emotion insisted, no, I did not kill her. Before sending the jury off to deliberate, Judge Paul Sloan summarized the arguments made by both sides during the trial. In his words, quote, Harry said he didn't cut her throat deliberately. He said Miss Ruggles was the love of his life, and he loved and cared about her deeply. When asked what it was, he loved about her. He said her sense of humor and the fact she made him feel good about himself. He said because he was only a child, he got really attached and committed,

but he was not obsessed with misruggles. He said he had not knelt on her back in the shower tray while slitting her throat. The prosecution say on the evidence you have heard, you can be sure that this defendant is a compulsive and habitual liar. He himself admits telling lie after lie after lie to people over the period with which you are concerned.

The prosecution says you can't rely on anything he says. His word is utterly worthless. The prosecution says the evidence leads you inevitably to the conclusion that throughout the relationship the defendant was controlling,ulative and obsessive. So the lovely happy woman surrounded by friends was by the end isolated, miserable and scared of the defendant. Say the prosecution he was controlling, thereby boasting his own ego, his behavior made him feel good about himself. The prosecution says Mike was the final straw.

Not only had she left him, she had found a new man, someone better than the defendant. He was about to lose control. Time was running out. That is something his ego would not allow. The prosecution says he has constructed an artificial lying account, twisting and turning, doing his best to tailor his account to meet the prosecution evidence. But he can't do it. The evidence is stacked against him. The prosecution says she didn't accidentally cut her hands and forehead and repeatedly cut her neck and the blood in the shower tray was not the result of a nosebleed.

The defendant attacked her with a knife and then tried to cover it up and lie his way out of what he had done," says the prosecution. The jury reached a unanimous verdict, finding Trimman Harry Dillon guilty of murdering Alice Ruggles. As the verdict was read, Harry reportedly stared straight ahead, showing no emotion. During the sentencing, Judge Sloan stated, you pinned her down, probably kneeling on her. Then in an act of utter barbarism, you repeatedly slashed her throat, with a knife at least six times causing catastrophic injuries. Even more despicable than that, using this trial to make yet more gratuitous attacks

on the character of Miss Ruggles. Not a shred of remorse have you shown, from first to last. You were concentrating so hard on getting your story right giving evidence, you forgot even to shed a crocodile tear. Harry was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 22 years. He appeared emotionless as he was led out of the courtroom. 22 years, is that enough? I personally like to think it's not 22 years. I like to think it's life with a minimum of 22 years. An emphasis on what the judge said about his lying, is written in his notes about his lying character

and it's compulsive need to manipulate and lie. And I like to think that when they're considering him from parole, they'll keep him there because that's who he is. And I personally don't think 22 years is enough, but I like to believe that he'll be in there longer. No, it's definitely not enough. I mean he's taken away someone's life. I mean at the end of 22 years does Alice come back? You know she doesn't that's permanent so really

his sentence should be permanent. I mean I know obviously that's not how the system works and 22 years is a long time and as Patrick says it will go on but it doesn't seem right at all. Just as has been done in some way, though, is someone confident? Oh, absolutely. I think the biggest fear for us, we knew it was a ridiculous possibility that the jury would stand up and say he's not guilty. But there's that fear that if they did, and they genuinely believed his life,

that he'd be after us next, be scheming something else, or even hurting someone else us next, you know, be scheming something else or even hurting someone else if he didn't know. It's just the thought that he would be out there and hurting someone else is mortifying. So I'm glad that he's away, someone where he can't hurt anyone. 22 years enough for him? I don't think so. I hope that when they get to the end of 22 years they'll look at it and say, how can we trust

that he's saying I won't go and do anything again. You know, they can't do that, they can't trust that he won't go out and stalk somebody or come after other members of my family. I don't think I can let him go. I never want him to come out. I just think he would be a danger perhaps to the rest of the family even then. I would worry about that. We will live the rest of our lives knowing that Alice should have been here with us wondering what she would have become.

Imagineing all the people she would have continued to affect with her infectious sense of humour Mae'n gweithio'r ffethio'r sydd yw'r ffethio'r sydd yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw' either important lessons to be learned from what happened to Alice. We didn't think that she was a sort of girl, something like this would happen too. We welcomed Trim and Dylan into our family and he came across as a normal person. Unfortunately, he was a cruel, manipulative bully who made Alice miserable and took her away from us. With hindsight there are many scientists stalking and coercive behaviour that we did not recognise. Everyone should know about these signs. This is National Storking Awareness Week and we feel there is a need for much more work to be done to publicise and identify stalking and controlling behaviour, to tackle the root causes and to stop them developing a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a a'r pwblisau a a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a a'r pwblisau a a'r pwblisau a a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a'r pwblisau a a'r pwblisau a trust and women's aid to learn lessons, to raise awareness and ultimately as we all sincerely

hope to help prevent what happened to Alice happening to others. Thank you. Had Alice's calls to police been taken seriously? Had the voices on the other end been trained to adequately respond to reports of domestic abuse and stalking? Harry Dillon would have never had the opportunity to end the life of Alice Ruggles. Five days before she was murdered, police asked Alice to decide whether or not she wanted them to arrest Harry. That should not have been her decision to make.

Unfortunately, this story and others like it are not unique to the United Kingdom. We all have a long way to go. If you live in the UK and are experiencing domestic abuse or know someone who is, call the National Domestic Violence Helpline at 0808-2000247 for free confidential support. You can also learn more about what they can do for you at nationaldomesticviolencehelpline.org.uk. If you live in the U.S., you can reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE. That's 1-800-799-7233. For more information or to access their free online chat service, visit their website at thehotline.org.

Alice's Ruggles family and friends have set up the Alice Ruggles Trust to raise awareness about domestic violence and stalking, as well as raise funds for projects and organizations working to help victims of domestic abuse. To learn more about their efforts, or to make a donation, go to AliceRugglesTrust.org. That does it for this episode of Sword and Scale. The world is full of monsters. Be careful who you lend your heart to.

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