True Crime with Kimbyr - Part 2: Murder At The Mall - Stalked & Killed After 3 Dates | The Terrifying Case of Clare Bernal

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

In Part 2 of True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha exposes the overlooked warnings, system failures, and chilling escalation that ultimately sealed Clare Bernal’s fate. As Clare tried to rebuild her life, her stalker grew bolder, crossing every boundary meant to protect her. How did he evade consequences so easily? What happened in the final moments inside the mall, and what came to light afterward? With compassionate detail and sharp analysis, True Crime with Kimbyr continues its deep dive into a case that still raises urgent questions about safety, justice, and the devastating reality of obsessive violence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When he was leaving, he asked Claire to come with him to the Stance at the airport, to see him off and say goodbye, which she did. To Michael, this must have seemed like everything was going great in their relationship because Claire sent him a note for Valentine's Day as well, just thanking him for a nice month, and she said she was thinking about him and she missed him, which was true at the time. But that was also who she was. She was just a kind and thoughtful person, but she was on the fence about whether to pursue their connection in a more serious way. And then, Michael's texting calls to Claire when he was on this trip were so persistent. And this actually turned her off. The night before he left to Slovakia, he called to remind her to come pick him up when his flight arrived three weeks after this. And it was supposed to be at 5 o'clock in the morning.

Well, considering they weren't officially a couple, Claire called her mom, and she complained about Michael's demand. It wasn't like she was just picking up on. She was going out of her way. that's over an hour ride just to meet him and come get him. So Trisha reminded Claire, you don't have to do this. But Claire wasn't sure how Michael would react if she didn't meet up with him. And that's tough.

Clearly, Claire was torn, but it was still kind of the beginning of the relationship. But soon, Claire would start to see Michael for who he really was. She did go to the airport to pick him up. And she didn't call her mom for the rest of the day, so Trisha became worried. And the next day Claire called her and said she had finally broken it off with Michael and that she was actually scared of him. She said at the airport, Michael just figured that she was going to carry all of his extremely heavy luggage, just burdening her with all of his things and asked to go back to her flat because he was tired. And he didn't want to lug all of his luggage across London.

Well, that's kind of rude. Plus, that didn't make any sense. Michael's shared flat was closer to the airport than where Claire lived. Plus, Michael wasn't welcome there. Remember, Natalia had explained to detectives that she and Susan didn't want him there. He had already acted strange, so they told him he wasn't welcome. But Claire didn't want to cause issues with her friends, but when Michael said he would just be there for a little while, she agreed.

But once they arrived at her place, Michael stayed there the entire day and all night. he would not leave. So Claire woke up the next morning and she had barely slept. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage

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She was just tossing and turning and socially drained and quite fed up. Claire told Tricia, she actually had to go with Michael to the train station, hoping that he would get the message. She didn't want to flat out just kick him out the door, but he seemed to think he was still welcome to stay at Claire's anytime he wanted because he even refused to take his suitcase to the station with him. And when the train came, he wouldn't get on it. It was February and it was freezing outside, and Claire did not want to be there. This was such a hassle. And when the second train came, and Michael still did not get on, Claire decided to end things with him. Remember how the coworker Milan had said that Michael ended things? Well, this changed the story. Detective Sutton wasn't sure who had broken it off, but it definitely happened during this fight when Michael was supposed

to go home and he wouldn't. This is when Claire told Michael he could do what he pleased. and pick up a suitcase from her place another time. But he wasn't welcome to come and hang out. And at this point, she was done. She stood firm. She begged him to get out of her sight and she walked home alone. When she got back home,

she put his suitcase out on the front and locked the door behind her. Minutes later, Michael shows up outside again. He's just sitting on this wall waiting outside. And both of Claire's roommates told him to leave. That's when he got aggressive, he was yelling at them and saying that all he wanted to do was apologize to Claire. And Susan and Natalia were getting in the way of their relationship.

He was there for two hours before he finally left. And Claire told Trisha, she did not like him at all anymore. Who would? He's acting crazy and he's a grown man. And I kind of wondered if he felt like he didn't have as much as Claire did. Like he didn't have a nice place to live. and he was searching for a woman that he could maybe take advantage of. And when Claire wasn't having it, he couldn't handle not getting his way. But either way, the next day, they had to actually work together.

And that must have sucked, having to face him and not be able to escape because Claire loved her job. And that day, not only did Claire see Michael, he came and he stood in line for the Law Prairie counter, among all the paying customers. And once he got up to the counter, he apologized to Claire for lashing out at her and her friends. He blamed all of his behavior on issues he had when he went back home to Slovakia. He said that it brought up a lot of feelings of anger and resentment. But Claire didn't care. She decided to just ignore him and go about her day working.

She was tired of interacting with this guy. And she knew if she did, it would only send mixed signals. But that's when Michael roped their co-workers into all this. and this further embarrassed Claire and made her feel like she was in the wrong for setting boundaries and distancing herself. There were co-workers that came up to Claire all day saying, Michael just wanted to apologize,

he just wants to be friends, and that is so manipulative. Those other co-workers had no idea what this man had been doing and he was making it seem like he was the victim and Claire was being mean to him. She felt obligated to smooth things over so she agreed, we can be friends, but nothing more. But this only made things worse. After the shift, he followed her home

with a big bouquet of flowers. And you see, flowers are usually something that us women like to get. We're happy to get some beautiful flowers from a guy. But the underlying intentions, the reasons Michael is doing this are toxic. So that made them unwanted. Claire told him, I don't want your flowers,

and she asked him to leave her alone. But he insisted she's gotta take him. So just to prove a point, she took the flowers, she left them outside on her doorstep, and that's where they stayed outside, wilting away for a week. Claire was again hoping that he would get the message, that she wasn't interested in the love bombing,

and she certainly wasn't interested in him. And at work, Claire kept what was going on between her and Michael and all of his stalking a secret. She loved her job and she was afraid she was going to lose it. She was also kind of in denial. She wasn't sure if Michael's behavior was bad or if she was just being an ungrateful person for rejecting his advances. So she confided once again in her mother.

And Trisha did not know what to do either. Remember I told you at the beginning of this video, this case will leave you questioning what you would have done. And it may even be easy for you to believe that you would know what to do, but just keep watching. Michael's obsession was alarming. He followed Claire on the train back to her house every day,

and he'd wait for her on the London Underground and he would sit across from her. He texted and called her up to 40 to 50 times per day. But still, Claire left him on red. Still, he would not take no or her silence for an answer. Even at work, she couldn't catch a break. Instead of manning the front doors, would leave his post and he would stand right next to her beauty counter and he would plead for her

to please take him back. She felt like she was always being watched. She couldn't sleep. She wasn't eating right and her health was taking a hit. She even began getting all kinds of ailments like eye infections repeatedly. There were times where she would even catch a glimpse of Michael watching her in the mirrors in the perfume section. And that is terrifying. The whole month of March, Claire never felt like she was alone. It was exhausting and horrifying to her. And on March 26, Claire took the tube home and Michael was sitting right across from her the entire ride

as she just sat there and ignored him. He asked Claire to talk to him before he did something stupid. But Claire remained silent. When they got to London Bridge, she got out and asked him to please leave her alone, but he wouldn't let up. So she turned and she ran away from him, hoping that she would lose him. But before she got to the next carriage, Michael ran after her. He came up behind her, and that is when he pushed her really hard.

She was able to board the next carriage, and again, he caught up to her, and he sat right across from her. And at this point, Claire began to break down and cry. She couldn't take it anymore. And through tears, she asked him to please, please leave her alone. And if he didn't, she was going to call the police. And that's when he got right up in her face. And he said, if you dare report me,

I'm going to kill you. Remember that. Wow. So now this has escalated to him threatening to become violent and even take her life. Claire did not know what to do. So she told him, if you leave me alone, I won't report you. For a second, it's like something switched in him.

switched in him like he went from angry to gentle all of a sudden. And he slowly reached out his hand. And he touched her face. And then he tried to kiss her. And of course, Claire pushed away. Michael apologized. And at that point, he actually did leave. But he stood right outside the window, tapping on the glass, waving, and just publicly embarrassing her. And I can't even begin to imagine what it feels like to be trapped in public. It's like you're not caged in, but you are with this person's actions. Claire had a panic attack right then and there,

and she called Natalia and then her mom, and she told them, she wanted Michael gone from her life and she didn't know what to do. She wasn't sure if Michael would follow through with his threat to harm her. And when Trisha was being interviewed after Claire's murder,

she told Sutton that she was scared for her daughter's life. life. She knew that Michael was ex-military. They figured if Claire reported him to the police, and they interviewed him, and they decided to let him go, he might find her and kill her. And she couldn't risk telling Claire to go to the police when Claire's life was on the line. And so many women feel this same way. When people go tell them, oh, you need to get a restraining order, well, that puts your stalker on notice. And many times it even agitates them more. More than it does preventing them from actually getting close to you.

But Claire couldn't keep living like this. She was having nightmares and insomnia. Her eye infections were persistent. And the lack of sleep was causing her work performance to plummet. And she was starting to get in trouble at work for making a bunch of mistakes. And you might think maybe just blocking Michael's number or if they were on social media, you could block him on there as well. But she did block his number.

And that didn't help. He always found another way. to call her. That's another thing. We can block someone's number from showing up, but they can still text, and they can still call. And then you'll have no record of what they were saying. You can't record you can't record any of it. You have no idea where their mindset is. So it's kind of a double-edged sword. Claire even changed her phone number and somehow Michael was always able to find the new one. But when the threat in her life started coming up in his text messages, she made the leap and she reached out to Brian. Harvey Nichols lead security officer. He convinced her to call the police. And that's when Claire was

interviewed by a woman named B.B. Shaw in the self-work hate crime unit. And this is where police records filled in more of the story. Sutton was granted access to read through Claire's interviews that she gave with Shaw, and I'm going to read you some of Claire's statements in her own words, and it makes me sad to know the pain that she was going through and how trapped she felt. Claire explained, quote, Pretty soon into the relationship, I realized Michael seemed to be quite possessive, and because of that,

and the fact that I didn't feel like we were going anywhere, I ended our time together on 28th of February 2005. On that day, Michael became upset that our relationship had ended. I told him to get the train, as all this occurred at the station. He didn't get on the train, and instead followed me to my home address, and sat outside the address for a period of roughly

two hours. During this time, he kept calling me. I received roughly 20 missed calls, and he came to the door and spoke to one of my flatmates, and was being very rude and shouting at her and kept saying he wanted to talk to me. She said that I didn't want to talk to him, end quote. Remember this? For two hours he wouldn't give up. This is not normal. It doesn't show love. It shows disrespect of a woman's wishes. All too often men will say, well, she was just playing hard to get. Or a woman may think that a man being persistent means that he's just really into them. But this is not healthy. The very next day was the time that Michael followed her home with a giant bouquet of flowers again,

one of those gestures getting flowers that most of us women would find charming, endearing, and romantic, but not after you've made it clear that you're not interested. And in another statement, Claire wrote this, quote, I've become increasingly worried and frightened by Michael's behavior towards me both at work and outside work. At work, Michael has constantly approached my counter while both on duty and pestered me to rekindle the relationship. I've often seen him nearby just staring at me, and on some occasions, I feel like he's using nearby mirrors to observe me. End quote. What do you do when someone is doing this and can't be reasoned with?

Claire also said, quote, another time after the 28th of February, I was leaving work when Michael approached me in full security uniform and stopped me by placing his hands on my shoulders from behind. He said, I love you, and I know you love me too. I said, no, I don't. And he said, yes, you do, you stupid little girl, shouting it in the street. And this all caused me to be distracted at work. This affected my sleeping pattern and that I haven't slept because I think he's waiting outside.

I also had to change my phone number due to the amount of calls and texts he had sent end quote. After reading these statements, they confirmed everything Trisha said and what Sutton had found out about Michael. Claire was terrified about him stalking her. He wasn't in love with her. He was getting off on any interaction they had, even the ones where he was rejected. In order to have a control over her life, he kept going. Shaw was trained in domestic violence cases, but this was stalking, which is completely different. It relies more on emotional abuse. At this point in time, Michael had never injured Claire. So Shaw classified Claire's case as low risk. But she did take Claire's accusations pretty seriously. She worked closely with Harvey

Nichols and brought Michael in for a three-hour interview. And it's no surprise. This manipulative man told a very different story than Claire. Michael said he had ended the relationship by making her feel like it was over, whatever that means. He said he felt responsible for sabotaging a good thing that they had. And this makes me think Claire actually broke up with him and he's trying to compensate for his insecurities by saying he broke up with her, even if it was nonverbal. Or perhaps, in the moment of frustration, he just said, you know what, I'm through with you, trying to see if this would change Claire's mind. But when it didn't work, he regretted it. In Michael's version, he said Claire told him that she had very strong feelings for him and that she was confused because she'd fallen in love with him so

quickly. What? We know this isn't true because she would have told her mom and her roommates. Michael said, that's when he realized he made a big mistake and he tried to get her back. But now she didn't want to be with him anymore and that confused him. So he apologized over and over again. He said, it wasn't stalking. However, he admitted to stalking. He said, he He admitted to stalking behaviors, but he didn't classify it as actual stalking. He said he was sorry, she was upset, and he never meant to hurt her. This was all just a huge misunderstanding because of their language barrier. But here's the thing.

That is total BS. He spoke English just fine. Michael was evaluated by a doctor who told Shaw that Michael had no psychiatric problems. He thought he was in love. He thought this behavior was normal. And I have to think that he might have been trying to control the narrative with the police and with the doctor the same way he tried to control Claire. Apparently the authorities thought they didn't have enough evidence against him. So in early April, Michael was released on bail with no charges and just given a warning that he would be arrested if he visited Claire or Harvey Nichols again.

This is kind of like a verbal restraining order. We know how well the written ones work. But Claire took his release as a sign she needed to move. and fast. That's when she and her roommates signed a new lease for a new flat. Literally the next day, and I'm not even exaggerating, he showed up at Claire's old flat while she and her roommates were packing up their things. And he was standing outside waving and smiling from the street as if nothing had happened. Claire called the police. She was angry and she was overwhelmed. She had gone through all this trouble of moving and he's standing

outside watching them. But when officers showed up, he was already gone. There was nothing they could do. On April 10th, Claire was all moved into her new flat, and Michael showed up again. She didn't understand how he got this new address, but she figured he most likely just waited outside of her old flat and followed her or her roommates. And I mean, if this man is willing to stand outside of her house for two hours, then he's probably willing to spend even more time just watching the girls to find out where they were moving. But this was proof. Michael didn't take the law seriously. So Claire dialed 999 and this time he was around when the police came. Michael smiled at Claire and he was even holding up his handcuffed wrist together

in the air for her to see as they were leading him away to a high security prison. He saw this as fun. He wasn't phased by it. Michael was charged with harassment and threatening to kill Claire. Eight days later, he got bail again. His hearing was finally skis. scheduled for late August. And Michael planned to plead not guilty because again, he didn't see anything wrong with what he was doing. Shaw had no idea that Michael had been released and neither did Claire. Claire was scared to face him in court and she told her mom that she was not looking forward to the hearing.

But in the months between Michael's release and his trial, Claire never saw him. So she actually thought this nightmare was over and I wish it was. Shaw explained to Sutton that in August she had no longer. no idea what Michael had been up to since April. Less than a month before Claire's murder, he stood trial at Tower Bridge Magistrates Court on August 31st of 2005, and his lawyer, Stefan Fiddler, convinced him at the last minute to plead guilty to the harassment charge. This would give the appearance that Michael acknowledged his mistake, and he would get a plea deal. And there was another purpose to this. You know the threatening to kill charge? Well, that would be dropped. And Michael

would only face a six-month sentence with a higher probability of getting probation and community service. Claire was actually pretty elated that she wouldn't have to face him in court. He just had to reappear on the 21st of September for his sentencing, and she wouldn't be responsible for putting him in jail for years, just a few months, to show him his actions are wrong. And he needed to get the picture, and he surely would at this point, right? So Claire truly didn't want to hurt Michael. She didn't want him to be angry about what she was doing. She just wanted her fears to be validated. She told her cousin Kristen, thank God, it's all over.

And she said to her mom, now finally people will believe me. And that's sad. I know so many women who have felt like this, like they're not heard, that they don't matter, or that they're even lying about what a stalker is doing to them. Michael was given bail again during his sentencing. The court never expected him to violate his bail terms, and neither did Shaw.

She was swamped at the time. She was working on over 25 domestic related cases that year. And in comparison to Michael's cases, his didn't seem as violent. He had no previous convictions. He'd stayed away from Claire for four months. Claire herself did not consider Michael to be capable of murder.

Stalking wasn't even considered a serious crime in London in 2005. With all that being said, Shaw and Claire thought Michael was low risk. He had done everything he could to gasolate Claire. to the point where Claire, Shaw, Tricia, and everyone else underestimated how capable he was of evil, clearly. And that is what is so scary about this situation and others like it. Sutton still did not know how Michael had come in possession of a gun while he was on bail.

It shouldn't have been possible. So he started to dig into Michael's backstory. Michael Pesh was born on July 12, 1975, in Czechoslovakia, which ended up splitting into two countries in 1992, the Czech Republic, which is now Czechia and Slovakia where he lived. These are beautiful countries, but they're severely affected by the Cold War. Michael ended up going to military school and he served in the army for six years, and when he left, he got a job working for the American embassy in Slovakia and got married.

He and Michaela ended up getting divorced, and then he moved to London on a student visa in 2003. The thing is, in 2004, Slovakia was incorporated into the European Union, and this meant Michael was given the opportunity to stay in London, stay in London for as long as he wanted. And you know the rest. But after Michael was let go from Harvey Nichols and arrested twice, the police kind of lost track of him.

However, Sutton was able to find out from Michael's passport that he actually left the country for Slovakia in April of 2005, even though he was on bail. How did Michael's passport make its way back to him? Investigators started to go down a rabbit hole to find out. In early May, Michael enrolled in early May, Michael enrolled in a month-long target practice class back in his home country. And on June 8th, he applied for a firearm permit with the Slovakian police.

This did include a background check and a letter from Michael's general practitioner. His doctor said he was of sound mind and his background check didn't come up with any criminal convictions. But remember, he was only charged with harassment and threatening to kill. He wasn't convicted yet, so there was no formal record. so he slipped through the cracks. After his firearm exam on June 14th, Michael waited to get his gun license in the mail. He legally bought a firearm in July.

It was a Sassat 75 semi-automatic, which is a popular gun made in Czechia, and that was compact and really easy to conceal. This gun shot 9mm luger bullets, which are the ones found at the crime scene. Even though Michael owned the gun legally in Slovakia, he wasn't allowed to have it in the UK. But Michael took a coach bus back to London on August 11th and he hid the pistol in his back.

The customs were supposed to check everyone coming through, especially if they were on bail. But somehow, he was never searched. Once more, this man slipped through the system's cracks. Michael knew to lay low until his hearing on August 31st. In the meantime, he planned out Claire's murder, knowing he was banned from Harvey Nichols, but also knowing Claire's schedule and which side doors were unguarded in the daytime from his own experience as a security guard there. It was too easy. But I have to wonder why he waited until September 13th to commit the crime.

Did he make up his mind to do it and then follow through under the influence of cocaine? Did he find out that Claire was dating someone else? Maybe it was both. But clearly, he had practiced and purchased this gun to kill Claire. So her murder was premeditated. there's no doubt about that. Sutton was realizing that this system failed Claire, and Tricia knew it too. She demanded a trial into Claire's murder to see who had failed her and why. How broken was the law that her daughter was dead after reporting her killer to the police. Claire's funeral was held

on Monday, September 26 of 2005, and hundreds of people showed up at St. Augustine's Church for the service. Claire's name was spelled out in pink and white flowers. and Trisha made her first statement to the public. She talked about Claire's last smile to Victoria and her passion for makeup. Claire loved her job at Harvey Nichols, but recently she decided it was time for her to move on, and she actually had a job interview lined up

for Friday, September 16th, to be a receptionist at a PR company. And that makes me so sad to know that she was doing everything she could to live, yet her life was cut short. Claire even started to move her things into her father's house, where she thought she would feel safer and closer to her new boyfriend, who she was very much in love with and truly did plan to marry. Her murder devastated so many friends and family,

not just because Claire was gone, but because no one saw it coming. And that's because there weren't many people that Claire confided in about what she was going through. Even her best friend, Adam, didn't even know about Michael. Claire was embarrassed. She also didn't like burdening other people with negative things. Many people close to Claire felt Michael deserved a lot more punishment than just a quick death that he received by taking his own life.

But come on. This man was clearly a coward. Others close to Claire just wanted to put this tragedy behind them and honor her life more than anything else. Now here's something I wanted to mention. It's about Claire's parents, Martin and Tricia. They had very polarizing reactions. Trisha felt like the police had failed her daughter. She called for an inquest to question. the integrity of the Metropolitan Police, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the UK's Revenue and Customs Department. She thought Michael should have been charged with putting people in fear of violence instead of harassment, which would have given him a five-year sentence instead of six months. She argued Michael was never properly assessed for risk, and if he had been classified as high

risk, Claire would still be alive today. However, Claire's father, Martin, he blamed his ex-wife, Trisha, for the negligence in Claire's case. He said that she never took Claire's original complaints about Michael seriously. Martin said, quote, the two things that could have saved Claire's life would have been for her to leave her job and leave her flat. Neither of these actions were even taken or suggested by her mother, end quote. He also didn't feel the need to have an inquest.

He wanted to put Claire's high-profile case to rest and allow her brothers James and Phil to properly grieve without dealing with the media. And I understand where he's coming from. I also understand his anger with Trisha, but Claire was an adult. She did go to her mother multiple times. Even the authorities couldn't stop Michael.

So how would Trisha have been able to? But I do understand Martin feeling betrayed. That nobody came to him. Nobody told him that Claire was in danger. But Claire was fully responsible to tell her her own father if she wanted to. She was very close with both her parents, but they had different relationships with her. And Claire was afraid she wouldn't have been believed. And she trusted the police. She trusted they would take care of it. And Trisha trusted they would too. She's not to blame

for her daughter's death. The only person responsible is Michael and he's the monster. An inquest was done. It began in November of 2005 in Westminster's Coroner's Court. Trisha and Martin got an a fight in the witness box over whether the inquiry needed to even happen. Martin was stressing again that the toll this case was taking on his sons, what they would have to be put through, and that it wasn't the police's fault that Michael was bailed. Patricia wanted something good to come out of this case. She wanted to be her daughter's voice. She needed to know what had gone wrong so other women who were stalked could stay safe from their perpetrators. Beebe Shaw testified that she had a high workload when she took on Claire's case, and only one day of domestic incident training

without any training in stalking at all. She also testified she accidentally made a mistake. She never filled out a form called 124D. This form is always supposed to be filled out at the start of investigation because it helps in deeming a person's risk as high or low. Michael was automatically classified as low because this form wasn't completed. So how is this not the police's fault? But Shaw admitted that she deemed him low risk anyway because of his lack of convictions, so filling out that form wouldn't have changed anything. Shaw was inexperienced but did believe Claire was scared.

When she heard about the Harvey Nichols shooting, she called Claire. And when Claire didn't pick up, Shaw knew that Claire had been killed. And she did feel responsible. She even broke down in tears halfway through her testimony. She had to take a break to collect herself. And it makes me sad that she wasn't given enough resources that she needed to make an informed choice. You can only work with what you are given. And stalking wasn't even taken seriously, and it still isn't here in the U.S.

Natalia gave her opinion of what happened on March 26th when Michael had threatened to kill Claire on the tube. Natalia was drinking at a pub, and Claire actually called her. Claire said Michael had gone on the tube with her after following her from work, and she told him to leave. Michael said, if you dare report me, I will kill you. So Natalia and her friend actually met up with Claire at the station. Claire told Natalia that Michael had just pushed her. So not only was Trisha's story about Michael pushing Claire True, Michael pushed her right at the edge between the tunnel and the platform.

Natalia said, quote, I don't think she realized the seriousness of this situation. Claire was a lovely girl, but she was extremely naive, end quote. So basically what they saw and thought was that, He was trying to kill her in that moment. He was trying to push her to her death, essentially. And that Claire wasn't seeing how serious this was at the time. Natalia told Claire she had to report him, and if Claire didn't do it,

then it's how you would. Claire thought if Michael got in trouble, she would be blamed and she didn't want to waste the police's time if it wasn't serious. Well, guess what? Natalia knew it was serious, and she personally went to the head of security, Brian Lennahan. Good for her. Everyone deserves friends that are willing to put themselves out there for you. Susan testified that Michael liked to hang out at her makeup counter as well, talking about the breakup with Claire and feeling sorry for himself. And at first, she didn't take him very seriously. She just thought, okay, he needs to get a grip.

But over time, he started to intimidate her. And she felt like her life was in danger because she stood up to him and she felt Claire was even in more danger of harm. The head of security, Brian, that I told you about, he testified, that when Natalia reported Claire stalking, he started to pay really close attention to the CCTV footage, and he watched Claire for half a day. And at every turn, Michael was there. He watched Michael lurking around the perfume department,

looking at Claire through the mirrors, and he watched Michael harassed Claire at her counter. So Brian took action and moved Michael to an upper level, hoping that that would work. But Michael also had access to the CCTV footage, and Brian caught him going down to Claire's floor right when she came into work and started bothering her again. He was obsessed and he was unstoppable.

So they suspended him from work on April 4th, with the caveat that he could no longer enter the store or contact the staff during his suspension. At this point, Claire did not intend to even contact the police. But Michael wasn't gone because on April 6th, he was standing outside of Harvey Nichols all day and waited for her to get off work. Brian knew then they had to call the police.

He recommended Claire make the call from his office, and she finally agreed. Harvey Nichols' upper management called Michael inside for a disciplinary hearing where he was then fired. Then two officers arrested him in the store and escorted him out, and Claire cried. She told Brian and her mom that Michael's expression of rage scared her,

and she felt guilty, even though Michael got him, in this situation. It turned out that Brian began his own investigation of Michael. He interviewed all the employees on the ground floor. And Maylund said that Michael was depressed about Claire rejecting him. A part-time employee who was also going to school to be a lawyer said, Michael asked them what the maximum sentence for murder was in the UK.

So even in March, he was planning on taking Claire's life. Brian looked at all of the text messages from Claire's phone. from Claire's phone, and there were thousands. Earlier on, Michael asked her questions saying, why are you so cold to me? Is it because you're English? This proved that Claire really was trying to create distance between them.

Michael asked Claire to forgive him and repeatedly professed his love. Easter was on March 27, 2005, and at that time, things escalated. Michael was acting like they were together and he said, quote, Hey, it's our anniversary tomorrow. How should we spend it? end quote. He threatened to take his own life if Claire didn't take him back, which is emotional manipulation 101. And days before Claire reported him to the police, he texted her with, quote, if I can't have you, nobody else will, end quote. Claire made up her mind. This was a threat in physical writing and it proved that her fears

were real. The police would have to believe her. Brian testified, this file was offered to Sutton. and remember that, but they initially declined to look at it due to investigative procedures. Brian remembered feeling frustrated by this. Relying on Claire's testimony alone was not enough to reveal everything that had been going on. The fact that Michael asked around about the maximum sentence for a murderer proves that he was a huge danger to Claire

and could have been stopped sooner. Claire's support from the Harvey Nichols staff proves how strong her case was, and the courts letting Michael off on bail was wrong. However, on Thursday, August 9th of 2006, it was ruled that Shaw and the courts were bogged down by too much paperwork and complex procedures. And that the justice system was not to blame for Claire's death. No one was to blame. As a matter of fact, the court said that Shaw should get an award for a thorough investigation, and Claire's death could not have been foreseen. Hmm, what do you think of that? Tricia definitely wasn't happy with the outcome. It was a failure of the justice system.

that it was released on bail so many times and allowed out of the country. The inquest didn't give her the justice that she deserved, but Trisha found that justice herself. She worked with two other moms of women who had been killed by their stalkers to create an organization called Protection Against Stalking and assist the National Stalking Helpline.

She works for the AAFDA, which stands for advocacy after fatal domestic abuse and the family justice system to train police officers on proper protocol for handling stalking cases and determining risk factors. She convinced the Prime Minister to label stalking an official criminal offense. Because of Trisha's advocacy work,

if you live in the UK and are being stalked, providing proof of fear can lead to a maximum 10-year sentence. Trisha's actions to make the justice system more effective actually earned her a member of the British Empire Honor Award in 2021. It's just sad that women had to die to make this happen. None of this will bring Claire back, and there will always be a void in Trisha's life where Claire was.

Her work ensures that other people in this world do not have to face the same fears and the same doubts that her daughter did. Her brothers, James and Phil now have their own families, and Trisha and Martin are grandparents. Claire's case has also been featured dozens of times, and it's because of the importance of stalking awareness. Stocking can happen anywhere,

even in a world-class department store, class department store right in the public's eye. And it's serious. It's more prone to happen now because we're spending so much time on the internet. So please be careful. I know you may be thinking what I thought throughout this case. What would I do if this was happening to me? And the scary thing is, we don't know someone until we do. So sometimes there is no way to tell that someone will end up becoming dangerous. I'd recommend at the bare minimum conducting a background check, even if someone seems nice and never feel guilty for setting boundaries and standing up to people who make you feel scared or uncomfortable. Stalkers get satisfaction by having

interactions with you. So do everything in your power to remove yourself from their reach, whether that means blocking all attempts that they make to contact you or getting a restraining order if you can. Do whatever you can. Claire's story is very scary and heartbreaking. She did everything right. She truly did. She even went to so far is to get the authorities involved. She was still killed. But no matter how hard her killer tried to erase her memory, he will never succeed because she will live on with all of you. So please share her story. I'm so glad that I could tell you about her today. Thank you all so much for watching and please stay safe. I will see you in my next video. Bye.