Survivor of 'nightmare' torment, 28, tells how 'stalker used a limo to follow her' at work
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Police officers stood at Saffron Bennett’s bedside as she recovered from an overdose brought on by limo driver Karl Silvester’s ‘relentless campaign’.
Subjected to vile emotional abuse and told she was just a ‘used slut’ 28-year-old Saffron decided to end her own life.
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Hide AdThe former college teacher called her father as she neared death realising at the last minute she wanted to live.
She was taken to hospital. But nothing prepared her for 30-year-old Silvester turning up in the corridor at Queen Alexandra Hospital as he endlessly pursued her.
She collapsed when they came eye to eye as he turned up in a corridor looking for her as security moved her to a private room.
‘I was 20 minutes away from my liver collapsing when I was rushed to hospital and even while I was trying to recover Karl stalked and harassed me at the hospital, to the extent I had police officers at my bedside and my friends stay with me for safety,’ Saffron said.
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Hide Ad‘I remember thinking to myself even dying didn’t get rid of him – he had broken me I was worthless.
‘I had no life. I was not allowed friends – he would tell me what I can and can’t wear, he would check my phone on a daily basis. He controlled everything, and I was too scared to fight back.’
Saffron plucked up the strength to ditch him on February 14 last year. She had taken him back during the relationship.
Her ‘life took an even bigger turn for the worse’ as Silvester started endlessly stalking her when she ended their 18-month on-off troubled relationship for good.
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Hide AdDad-of-two Silvester bombarded former car showroom worker Saffron with up to 164 messages, 60 calls and multiple emails a day.
Not content with that he turned up at her work even walking up to her desk, parked outside her home and tried to run her off the road.
Saffron said: ‘He actually pulled up outside my work in a limo. He used a limo to stalk me.
‘He had no shame. He used to put it on Facebook.’
Brave Saffron, who spent time in a women’s refuge to flee her ex-partner, spoke to The News at her Purbrook home - now bristling with security measures and CCTV installed after her ‘nightmare’ imposed by Silvester.
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Hide AdFlanked by her mother Paulette, 54, and new boyfriend Paul Waites, 39, she opened up days after Silvester was jailed for three years for his 14 months of stalking.
Smirking, shaking his head and rolling his eyes at Portsmouth Crown Court up until the moment he was told by a judge he was being jailed, Silvester cut a sheer figure of arrogance – despite losing a trial.
The pair’s tumultuous relationship started when Silvester gave Saffron a lift home after a New Year’s party.
Silvester moved into the home Saffron shares with her mum, and unwell father Tony, 59, who was powerless to help his daughter during her trauma as he underwent larynx cancer treatment.
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Hide AdSaffron said her dad was left ‘worried, stressed and angry’ at himself being unable to help.
The stalking took a toll on her entire family – but wrought havoc on Saffron's own life.
An outgoing self-confessed petrol head Saffron has become a shadow of her former self at the hands of bullying Silvester.
She said: ‘I know I will never be the person I once was.
‘I am now a scared, insecure, frightened individual. I cannot trust, I do not dress up because I feel worthless, I find being happy the hardest thing in the world.
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Hide Ad‘I get flashbacks to everything I have been subject to and it’s like I’m reliving it all over again.
‘I don’t know if these feelings will get easier but at the moment every day is a struggle and a silent battle I am having to have.
‘I still wish at times I was dead as these feelings and the scars I carry do not make my life worth living.’
Saffron was forced to endure the stalking between July 1 in 2017 - with the suicide attempt in that month - and August 20 last year.
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Hide AdBut Silvester’s sentencing hearing was told he did not stop then - with him continuing to send messages.
Battling to see justice done, Saffron believes it was only her meticulous keeping of evidence that saw Silvester jailed - a fight that leaves her feeling she is a survivor, not a victim.
She told The News: ‘I’m not a victim at the end of the day, I’m a survivor- the victim is the person carrying out the crime because they’ve got no self-control.
‘They’ve got no concept of what it’s like to be a decent part of society - they’re the victims who are going to have sad and miserable lives and aren’t going to get anywhere.
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Hide Ad‘The people they class as victims are survivors who in 10 years are going to be able to build themselves up and say “I’ve got the scars but I’m a survivor”.’
Already feeling let down by police who she thought did not take the case seriously enough - she has been left aghast at the criminal justice system.
During the hearing the prosecutor realised there was no restraining order draft made.
Police had given it to the Crown Prosecution Service but Saffron, sitting behind a screen in the witness box from where she read a moving statement, had to write out road names that Silvester should be banned from visiting.
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Hide AdA draft restraining order complete by police reached the CPS just a day before court.
‘I shouldn’t have to write my own restraining order at my sentencing,’ she said and added: ‘Not all victims go. If I wasn’t there I might not have a restraining order.
‘It’s been tough. There’s quite a few times I thought he’s going to get away with it.’
A CPS Wessex spokeswoman said: ‘We take offences of stalking seriously and are glad that the necessary order was made.
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Hide Ad‘We are however, sorry that the process of obtaining this order, in addition to the three year custodial sentence the defendant received, caused unnecessary additional upset and left the victim feeling let down by the criminal justice system.’
Silvester was handed a lifetime restraining order after being convicted of stalking causing serious alarm or distress.
A Hampshire police spokesman said: ‘We do our utmost to support victims of crime and signpost them to the relevant partner agencies who can provide them with longer term specialist support.’
Call the National Stalking Helpline on 0808 802 0300.