Can I Tell You A Secret? - Matthew Hardy's victims share their stories

A new documentary revealing the crimes of Northwich resident Matthew Hardy has been added to Netflix – Can I Tell You A Secret?

Part one of the limited series focuses on three of his victims, of which there were dozens.

In 2022, Hardy was sentenced to nine years in prison - the longest custodial term in British history for online stalking.

ALSO READ: Episode two of Can I Tell You A Secret? reveals how police were able to track down cyber stalker Matthew Hardy

One of the victims, Abby, began receiving messages from Hardy after returning home from Ibiza.

Then, posing as two girls, he messaged Abby’s boyfriend saying she had cheated on him, which ultimately led to their break-up.

“I still really loved him but since those messages, I could see it in his eyes, the love was getting less and less until there was nothing," Abby said.

She was able to figure out what had happened upon realising all the messages started with “Can I tell you a secret?”.

Abby revealed how Hardy's actions caused her relationship with her boyfriend to break down (Image: Netflix)

Later in the episode, Abby recalls how Hardy managed to obtain photos of her taken during a boudoir shoot, sending them to a former colleague of hers.

“I feel, like, gross and sick and the magnitude just felt insane because I was having this realisation that I'd been a target for weeks now,” she said.

“I did not know if it was one person, is it a gang? And I don’t know where they’re going to pop up.

“Every day it’s something different. It’s chaos.

“I don’t even know what I'm running from.

“I suspected my ex-boyfriend, my best friend, housemates. I even suspected my family, I didn’t trust anyone and I had to be really careful about what I said and who I said it to.”

Paralegal Lia from Kent revealed how Hardy’s actions, which included setting up fake profiles and sending sexual messages to male friends and family, left her scared to leave her home.

Matthew Hardy (Image: Cheshire Police)

She said: “This person is creating this rift between all connections in your life.

“All my friends were going out and I just didn’t want to go.

“My mum used to drive me to places, pick me up from places, people would walk me to her car.”

The third victim, a model called Zoe from Lincolnshire, said the stalking got so severe she ended up arming herself with a samurai sword.

“I felt that unsafe and for me it felt safer to have something to protect myself and that’s the steps that I took.”

Deciding enough was enough, she went to the police who told her that while they could trace the phone number who had been contacting, they only did so in cases such as rape or murder.

Lia was left scared to leave her home (Image: Netflix)

Zoe said: “I remember at that point I sat there and I said ‘so you’re not going to do anything until something like that happens?’

“I walked out of there. They don’t care.

“I felt I was being blamed for part of the problem.”

The first episode ends in July 2019, when Zoe was messaged by her ex who had received a message from Hardy.

After searching his name online, she came across this article from the Northwich Guardian - Man sentenced for hacking into Facebook.