Laura Woods details three-year stalking ordeal
Laura Woods has spoken publicly for the first time about the harrowing three-year stalking campaign she endured at the hands of a female Liverpool supporter, reports BritPanorama.
The sports presenter revealed details of her ordeal, describing how Harneet Kaur subjected her to relentless harassment beginning in the summer of 2021. Kaur received a 14-month prison sentence last June and was issued a restraining order prohibiting her from approaching within 500 metres of Woods’ home.
The stalker had established numerous online accounts to target the broadcaster and sent sexually transmitted infection testing kits to her address. In one particularly alarming incident, Kaur contacted police with a fabricated report claiming she had witnessed Woods being forced into her property by a knife-wielding man.
Woods, who chose not to attend Kaur’s sentencing hearing, told the Telegraph: “For three years, she would go to extreme lengths to make my life very uncomfortable.” The campaign of terror included birthday cards containing chilling messages: “There were birthday cards that would say: ‘Today’s the day you were born and tonight’s the night you’re going to die.'” Kaur also enrolled the presenter in funeral services, resulting in monthly correspondence about death arrangements arriving at her home.
The stalker’s tactics extended to dispatching animal welfare officers to investigate Woods’ dog. Woods recalled: “It was every possible way you could conceive that she would try to get to me. I couldn’t understand how one person could do it all.”
In 2023, while Woods was working in Poland covering the Oleksandr Usyk versus Daniel Dubois boxing match, Kaur sent an email containing footage filmed outside the presenter’s London residence. Woods described reviewing her home security recordings to check for intrusions, labelling the experience as “terrifying.” Kaur also posted a video from a shooting range in America featuring a firearm, which Woods perceived as a threat directed at her.
The sustained harassment fundamentally altered Woods’ relationship with the capital, where she had been living alone with her dog. She said: “It changed the way I felt about London. I lived on my own with my dog, and I felt very exposed. I didn’t want to be there any longer. It spun me into quite a bad place. Suddenly I was extremely anxious and low.”
Now a mother to a 10-month-old son, Leo, Woods has developed what she describes as an “iron exterior” to protect herself from online hostility over her success and appearance. Despite her attempts to fortify herself, she admits to feeling “more vulnerable” and “so much more emotional” following her experiences.
The resilience displayed in confronting her stalker illustrates the complex interactions between public figures and their audiences, underscoring the often fine line between admiration and obsession in the modern digital age.
